Inuyasha Stare, Rewritten
by ladyofthekastlevine
Summary: REWRITE TO THE ORIGINAL: Kagome has been kidnapped by Naraku, and Kagura has joined the group in an attempt to find her master. They seek out the help of Sesshoumaru, and Kouga in hopes that the more people that look for her, will get her home faster. However, They know that even if they do find her, she may never be the same again.
1. One

_**Chapter**__**One**_**: The Gift of Love, A heart. **

Climbing out of the well, Inuyasha could feel the splinters under his calloused hands, and he dug them a little harder into the wood before he launched himself out. His white hair flew around him for a few moments as he stood still, taking a deep breath to himself before he turned around to face his fellow friends gazing at him intensely. He sighed yet again, and looked at the ground, defeated.

The first one to speak was Sango. "Well?" she demanded, sounding quite overwhelmed with anxiety at the fact that the hanyou had come back empty handed, yet she cooled herself when she watched the hanyou's expression change from defeat to distress.

"Inuyasha? Was Kagome at her home?" Shippo's calm voiced practically begged to know, as he hopped down off of Miroku's shoulder and teetered over to where Inuyasha was standing.

Inuyasha looked down at the kitsune, and ruffled the top of his head gently, "No, Shippo… she wasn't home." He looked at him for a moment, but then he turned and headed toward Kaede's village. Three weeks ago, Kagome had disappeared, and no one had any clue as to where she could have gone.

It left Inuyasha in a scared frenzy. He had never expected this would happen, and in a sick way it made him feel to blame. He had no clue where she was, and now everyone was looking to him to find her.

Miroku watched for only a moment as Inuyasha wandered off, his shoulders not as broad and strong as they looked weeks ago. Then, Miroku sat down with his back against the well, beside Shippo.

"Shippo…where do you think Kagome could have gone?" he asked the kitsune child cautiously.

Shippo looked off in the direction that Inuyasha went, and saw that he was now out of sight. Shippo figured he would be in a tree somewhere, thinking as he normally did when they were at a loss. "I'm not sure, we've been over this before haven't we?" Shippo sounded lost, almost hardened by the loss of his friend. "Miroku…we haven't checked Kouga…maybe he kidnapped her again?" Shippo finally asked, just a little sparkle of hope ringing out on the corners of his question.

Sango, who had been watching Inuyasha as well, brought herself back into the conversation, but it wasn't to comment on anything that had been said, "Do you guys think that Kagome could be…." She began, afraid to say the word but knowing that she wasn't the only one who thought it. "…dead?" she finally blurted out.

Shippo gasped, and covered his face. He didn't want to think about Kagome being gone for good. Miroku wrapped his arm around Shippo and picked him up as the little one cried silently into his shoulder. Miroku looked back at Sango who looked ashamed, "No, I believe that our Kagome is stronger than that, and we just have to keep strong and find her alright? I feel it in my heart that she is still here somewhere. " he looked at Sango softly, and pat her shoulder softly, before he started walking toward the village.

Inuyasha, was close enough still to hear what they were saying, and he began to feel a frantic fear rising up inside of him. _Dead? I don't even want to think about that….. _He thought to himself, standing and dropping down to the ground from the tree he had been sitting in. He walked toward the direction the group had just gone in.

Miroku along with the others, had noticed different things about Inuyasha the first week that Kagome had gone missing, but had no idea why he was now acting like having her around was extremely necessary. Normally, the hanyou acted like they were all a burden. Not this time. This time, Inuyasha was desperate to find Kagome. It was like he was guilty about something.

A week or so before her disappearance, Kagome had unraveled the truth about Inuyasha's purpose for that jewel, and she hated the fact that he'd never told her why he wanted it. He wanted to use it to become full demon. That was all he'd ever cared about and he'd used Kagome since he met her, to get it. It angered Kagome and she and the hanyou spent a few days not speaking. Kagome came to Miroku after that and told him that she planned on going home. She didn't want to be part of this anymore, because she really just couldn't stand being around him anymore, thinking about how he didn't really care about any of them. Miroku tried his best to convince her that she shouldn't leave permanently.

Kagome had thought about it, and no one new about this, but the day she disappeared, she 'd told Inuyasha that she was going to leave, and that he'd broken her heart.

_**In the Courtyard of Kaede's Village**_

They'd all gathered in the courtyard, not feeling like being inside, just in case they fall asleep and miss hours looking for their friend. Inuyasha was sitting down with his legs crossed, his white hair hanging over one shoulder, and his golden eyes watching the fire flicker in front of him. Sango was sitting next to him, Kirara in her lap, and she was focusing on petting the animals fur. Miroku was sitting with his arms resting on his thighs, and his eyes closed tightly—looking as if he was in meditation. Shippo was playing with a yoyo of some kind, his eyes clouded over.

She watched him from the giant feather that she rested on in the hair. She was only about six yards from the group, but she was concealed by shadows. She knew that if the hanyou below was any kind of demon at all, he would have already caught her scent, but wasn't going to say anything, or he just hadn't caught her yet. Her bright red eyes stared at the whole group, and were awed by the darkness that clouded them once the human girl was gone. Kagura had no idea how much of an impact her disappearance would have caused them.

Jumping lightly from the feather, and then lifting her hand to catch the feather as it shrunk to the size of a normal bird feather, and she slid it behind her hair. By then, Inuyasha had caught her scent and was looking dead at her. He still couldn't see her, but he knew where she was. Kagura kept walking, her hands her side. The wind sorceress's demeanor was that of someone of high power, when they all knew she was just a puppet for Naraku to control. Once she got to the opening where, by then, they could all see her, she stopped and held up a hand as a salutation of sorts.

Kirara, wisely, didn't trust anyone, and jumped up into full form and growled violently. Sango stood up quickly and was ready to attack when she had to. Miroku, who had a strong distaste for the wind sorceress was already wrapping his fingers around his dark blue beads around his Wind Tunnel.

Shippo shouted angrily, "Why are you here?!" and started spinning the yoyo around like he was going to toss it at her.

Inuyasha stood up and said firmly, "Be quiet you four. She's not here to hurt us, or she would have tried while we weren't paying attention. " He looked up at Kagura, and nodded his head upward. "What do you want, Kagura?"

Kirara didn't stand down, but Sango warned her to keep her eye out and not to act irrationally. Miroku stood up straight, but was still very cautious about the sorceress. Shippo had hopped up onto Miroku's shoulder and his ears twitched with alertness.

"Well, I have been spying on you for a few days now. I have good reason, Monk, so quit looking at me like that," she mentioned at Miroku's incredulous look. "I see that your group has lost a precious member of it, just as my little family has as well." Kagura mentioned solemnly.

Inuyasha looked at her in confusion, as did Sango and Miroku. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

Miroku stepped forward, "Someone in your group has gone missing?" he asked Kagura.

Sango jumped up anxiously, "Kohaku?" she asked, hoping that her brother had found a way to escape the demon.

Kagura sucked her teeth and tossed her head to the side. "No, demon slayer… someone of _much _more importance, I'm afraid." She said, trying to be patient with the group.

Inuyasha stepped back, "Naraku is missing?!" he asked, shocked.

Kagura smiled lightly, but a twinge of sadness bridged that smile, and it was very readable to Miroku, who had seen that same look on the face of a very particular hanyou he'd been around for the past month. "Unfortunately, yes. Naraku has been missing for almost four weeks now, and I have been looking around the entire Eastern lands for him. I've even asked the disgusting Wolf Tribe if they'd seen Naraku, but they have been oblivious to everything in this land for far too long, that most of them don't even know who he is." Kagura bitterly announced.

Inuyasha walked over to where they were standing only a foot in front of each other. He stared the sorceress down for a long moment before speaking. "You mean to ask if Naraku has kidnapped Kagome?" he questioned.

Kagura scoffed, "I would go so far as to insinuate that Naraku desired the priestess enough to have to kidnap her, but I would suggest perhaps she has left, and he they've found each other to be good company?" she shrugged, feeling like both their reasons were pretty excusable.

It was Inuyasha's turn to scoff, he crossed his arms and shook his head, "I highly doubt that Kagome would be stupid enough to find that _thing _to be good company!" he said, laughing a little.

Kagura narrowed her eyes, a fire in her eyes lighting only a little, until she cooled herself and sighed deeply. "I am not here to argue with you, hanyou…I am only here to see if you had any clues as to where your priestess might have gone."

"No. We don't have any idea! That's why we're so sad!" Shippo shouted violently, he was shaking, he was so upset—his little tiny body gripped tightly onto Miroku's shoulder while he shouted.

Kagura looked over at the little fox boy and smiled softly, before she turned to look at him fully. "You are the fondest of the woman, aren't you? I can see that."

Shippo's eyes grew wide, and he blinked heavily, tears threatening to pour out yet again.

Sango came up then, stepping in between Shippo's eyesight of the woman, "So, since it's very obvious that _we _have no idea where our missing friend is, how about you, _Kagura?_ Do you have any idea where your Naraku is?"

Kagura ruefully shook her head, "No I do not. He was never really one to share his plans with me. As you well know, he gave me orders and I followed them or I died. Unfortunately, I was never close enough for him to tell me everything…" she carried off her last word, and her eyes glossed over, a darker sadness coming over her face.

It was quiet for a moment, and in that moment, emotions were passed between them all that would have shocked both Kagome _and _Naraku if they were around. Inuyasha could see the emotion behind Kagura's eyes, because he knew that emotion well. _ The loss of one you dearly love is devastating, isn't it Kagura? _

At once, the silence was broken by a loud sigh that brought everyone's attention to Miroku, the one who had emitted such a sigh. "I have an idea, but you must be aware that this will require great strength from all of us if it is to be accomplished." He started, and then looked around, waiting for everyone's agreement.

Kagura nodded, as well as Inuyasha and Sango. It took a minute, but Shippo nodded as well, very wary of the Monk's idea.

"I believe that we all need to form our own little group, and we need to find this Naraku, in hopes of finding our Kagome as well. But we will all need to…get along." He said the last part dramatically, hoping to get a reaction out of the group.

Once everyone nodded again, Miroku clapped his hands together and smiled cheerily, and said, "Good! That means we need to be peaceful and not cause a scene so big that it would cause us to have to kill you Kagura…you understand?" he said as if he was reading the newspaper.

Kagura stared at the monk, raising her eyebrows gently, "Although, I cannot promise that we will not mix words once and a while, Monk, I will do my best to keep everything calm between the group." A pause, and then she opened her mouth to speak again. "I have to say something else." Once everyone's eyes were on her, she spoke again, "I cannot promise that your Kagome is alive, ….for Naraku is a formidable enemy…he is able to do whatever he pleases, and he will _take _whatever he wants…but I am wishing for the best, for you and your Kagome." Kagura said quietly.

Inuyasha's eyes lit up, fire inside of them so hot that he could swear that Kagura could feel them. He couldn't help but feel hate for someone who would doubt Kagome's ability to defend herself, and to stay alive. He cooled after he thought for a moment about how it was only hours before that he thought it a possibility that she might have died out there. Sadness hit his face again, and he muttered a quick 'Whatever.' And walked off into the distant night somewhere.

Shippo didn't look too happy, either. He felt as if Kagura was trying to say that Naraku would have killed her by now had he taken her somewhere, but Shippo knew better. He knew very well that Kagome was still alive, because he could feel it. He could sense that she was alive, and she wanted to come back.

_**With Naraku, his new palace deep in the Western Lands**_

In the Western Lands, there was a man with great power, and this man had roamed the earth for a very long time, destroying it in ways you couldn't explain. His power was vindictiveness, manipulation, and demon energy. Naraku was his name, and he was vicious. Standing atop a large cliff, he looked down at the petite female he had captured a month ago with greedy, needing eyes. It was hard for him to sustain his desire as he watched her strong legs bend down into the cold river water to scrape the dirt and grime out of Naraku's clothes. When he'd first decided to capture the girl, it was during their last battle with Inuyasha and his pitiful gang, and the woman had showed the first sign of priestess power he'd seen to be stronger than Kikyou herself. He waited months before he took her. He had sent Kagura and Kohaku to find out more information about the girl. He found out that she was indeed, a reincarnation of the famed Kikyou, and he had also known that the half-breed was falling for her just as hard as she had fallen for him.

One night, Kohaku came back and said that the group had split up for a few days, and were looking for berries and food to eat, and that the hanyou and the priestess were fighting about the jewel. He told Naraku about Inuyasha's desire to swallow the jewel to become a youkai, and about how the girl ran away from him, and how she wanted to return home. Naraku knew that it was time for his plan to begin, and he was only waiting for the perfect moment to slip her away quietly.

That moment came for him sooner than he'd expected, when, the very night Kohaku told him about the ordeal; Kagome decided she was going to go for a dip in the river near Kaede's village. Naraku was sitting in a tree, and watched her as she bathed. It was sick, to imagine that she couldn't feel his eyes tracing every plump, curved edge of her shapely body, but he continued because thoughts like that never bothered him. Once she was out of the water, and had finally slipped her strange clothing back over her raven colored hair, he had slipped down from the spot he was hiding in, and had stood behind her for a moment, and then she began walk away from him.

"Tell me, Kagome," he began, his voice so thunderous that Kagome shook and turned to face him as if it had actually shook the ground she stood on, "Are you prepared to let Inuyasha eat my precious jewel?"

Kagome had glared at him, a sort of fire in her eyes that made him want to smile even wider. The woman was strong, but at the moment she was not strong enough to do anything. She was completely caught off guard. Kagome started backing away, and Naraku followed by inching closer to her.

"I will get the pieces from you, and then I will purify the jewel and get it away from all of you!" Kagome stated firmly, determined she would actually do so.

At this, Naraku laughed loudly, "You'd better be careful how you speak to me, dear Kagome, you're going to be spending a lot of time with me. You don't want to make me angry, do you?" he'd asked her, his voice so sweet it almost made her sick.

Kagome backed away again, putting her hands up to defend herself if the need be. "What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere with you, Naraku!" she exclaimed.

"See," Naraku moved so quickly, Kagome couldn't even scream. "that's where you are wrong, priestess." He slapped his hand over her mouth in a second, and she found herself enveloped inside of that thick, very heavy baboon fur he wore around him at all times, and was lost from that moment on to the hands of Naraku.

Now, Naraku watched as she bent over, and pulled the long, heavy blue cloth out of the water, and commenced to hanging it over the line that he'd watched her string herself using a rope he'd supplied her with, and a few heavy stones weighing them down over a tree limb or two. Kagome was slowly losing the plumpness that was her original form, and he noticed that as well. Those lose muscles were now harder than stones, and you could see the definition in her arms even from the distance he was sitting at. He'd instructed her to clean the linens that he'd packed away once they'd left his old ruin of a palace. The clothes were covered in ash from the palace being burnt to a crisp, and he'd wanted her to clean them before he allowed her to bathe. It had been a month now, and she'd finally gotten to the last batch of linens.

Of course, that wasn't the only task he'd required of her as of yet, and he understood that she was weak and tired. He'd had Kagome build the small hut that she was to live in. He promised her that in her captivity, she would have her privacy. Unfortunately, he only meant when she was in her hut. He watched her now, always, and she knew it.

Kagome could feel the skin among her hands growing raw once again. They'd often gone through this stage in the past two weeks. Blistering up to where puss would escape the pockets of skin that rose from her palms, and then once she pulled the pockets away, she'd feel the pain for a few days before it callused over and she could work again without gritting her teeth. It was frightening for the girl to live with the man, but she'd grown used to his presence around her. Naraku was distant, for the most part. He never slept near her, and she was thankful for that. However, Kagome had been pushed far past her limit the first week she was stuck with him. She'd had to build a hut _by herself _just so that she could stop sleeping in the same house as he did. Once the hut was built, she had her own space. But, she had to make her own bed out of linens and straw stuffed inside of it, along with her own pillow and fur blanket. Kagome had never hunted before, and Naraku instructed her to hunt for an animal to use as food for dinner, so that she could cut the fur and tan it to make her blanket. Being reduced to such a primitive nature had its benefits, though, and Kagome was noticing them as well, and was starting to wonder, more and more what Naraku's plan was. Kagome could feel the muscles in her arms growing, and she noticed that she could run long distances, and her precision with the bow was much better than it had ever been before. Inuyasha once said she needed to practice, because it made her look stupid when she'd miss her targets.

Kagome's hand slipped and the linen she was preparing on the line fell into the dirt. Gritting her teeth at how clumsy she was, she picked it back up and drug the wet cloth back into the water. Jumping into the knee high river felt nice to her. It was refreshing. Scrubbing at the spots on the top that she had just ruined, Kagome let out of some of her frustration. _Inuyasha…Shippo…Miroku and Sango. I wonder what they're doing right now. _ Finishing cleaning the cloth, she made sure to wring out the water as best she could, and then she carried with both arms to the line where she hung it up. Kagome looked off into the distance where she felt Naraku's eyes on her. She couldn't see him from where she was, but she figured he was in a tree somewhere on that cliff.

Kagome noticed how Naraku treated her, and how he was attentive to her needs in ways she couldn't really call gentle, but she knew that he needed her around for something. He was training her for something, but she didn't really know what it was, at least not yet.

Having been with him for so long, Kagome started to notice the changes in her opinions, and even her nature. Not just the physical parts of her—which were much stronger than before—were different, it was also her wisdom. She now had what you would call common sense, which if you knew her, she didn't seem to have, a lot of the time. Kagome could be useful in a small fight now, if it was necessary. She had also become very wise when it came to her captor. She could tell when Naraku was angry, and she knew when he was content, which was his version of happy, really. She also knew when he was hungry, not for food, but for things that he shouldn't have ever desired from he

Kagome wanted to go home. Kagome wanted to be with her friends again, but she had to know why she was wanted here.

_**A small clearing in the woods near the east**_

Inuyasha and the group had decided to leave Kaede's village after talking with Kagura about places that she'd been with Naraku, and after drawing up a map of places to check, they said their goodbyes to the old priestess, yet again. Kaede had pulled Inuyasha to the side, and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Inuyasha…you have to be careful, boy. Don't let your emotions get in the way of what is right, I beg of you. Whatever Naraku has done to Kagome, if it turns out that she is indeed with him, you won't be able to change that part of her for a while. You need to be cautious." She warned.

Inuyasha had snapped at the woman, calling her a buffoon because she was warning him to be wary of Kagome. "How dare you assume she'd join him, or be anything like him!" and he'd left her standing in the doorway of her hut.

Kagura hadn't spoken to the old lady, but she gave her a nod as they turned to leave. Shippo had been given a small satchel to wear at his side, and inside of it were the left-over potato crisps, and a strange box with a fruit flavored liquid in it, that Kagome had left in Kaede's hut. Miroku was given a cloak to wear around his shoulders, and a new pair of sandals for his journey. Sango was given a kiss on the cheek, and a bag of treats for Kirara, and she was also handed a basket that contained a large bowl of stew, two loaves of bread, and a couple assorted fruits.

"Please be careful, my Sango. Watch out for the boys, please." Kaede said as she kissed the demon slayers cheek.

Sango smiled and hugged her back, "Of course, Kaede. I will do my best."

Once they'd left, they headed toward the east. Even though they'd already been that way, Inuyasha had said that since they didn't look anywhere near Naraku's hideouts, that they would have better luck starting off in that direction. They all nodded in agreement and had started their journey before daybreak the next morning.

Finally it was near midday, and they'd found a small clearing where a few stones were seated around what looked like a used fire pit. Inuyasha said that they should all get some rest. After a little bit of exploring, Miroku and Shippo discovered a small brook hidden in the trees. They were all given a moment or two to themselves to clean up, and get a drink of water. Sango and Kagura began to heat up the stew, and set out a small 'plate' for all of them around the fire.

Once they'd bathed, and had all eaten, it was late afternoon and Kagura began to tell stories of how Naraku traveled, and his normal plans were so tricky that even Kagura—who prided herself at being very intelligent—could grasp it until it was already so far gone. Sango barely listened, feeling as if she would bring her food back up if she heard how he treated her brother. Miroku sat and rubbed her back gently, trying his hardest not to notice how warm her skin was under his fingers, and when she laid her head on his shoulder, he realized that she needed comfort, and closed his eyes, hugging her softly. Shippo had curled up with Kirara and was listening for a little while, his eyes determined now, to find Kagome, but eventually, he drifted off to sleep. It had just begun to be dark then, and Sango and Miroku had fallen asleep against a tree, Sango wrapped up in Miroku's cloak, his arm around her shoulder.

Inuyasha, however, didn't sleep much that night. He stared up into the sky, and did his best not to think about the days that were sure to come. He didn't want to think about what Kaede said, either, but that was all that could come into his head. "You have to beware…" he recollected. "How could she say that? How could she expect that Kagome would be changed because of this? Kagome." He thought out loud, unaware that anyone else was hearing his thoughts. Kagura hadn't been sleeping well that night either, and she had heard what he had said. She didn't move, not for a while, she wanted to give him that moment to himself, as she herself, had her own thoughts to think.

_If only Inuyasha knew what he was like. Naraku is completely different than any of them expect. I am not sure why he has stolen that girl from them, or why he has cast me out in such a way—but—I know we have to get to her fast, or she will be doomed. _Kagura thought to herself, hugging her knees to her chin.

Inuyasha dropped down from the tree he was sitting in, and then started to walk away from the group, toward the brook. Kagura was sure he'd bathed earlier, and so she thought maybe he was just going for a walk, and she followed.

Inuyasha was sitting in the water, he'd removed his clothes, and was now sunk underneath the water as far as he could go. His eyes were the only thing visible from above the water, and they were hidden behind his pale eyelids. His thoughts were killing him, and he wanted a distraction. The cold water on his body kept him feeling chills, and physical ones, instead of the fear for his friend.

Kagura stopped, staring ahead at the water that seemed to glow in the night. The rocks underneath were smooth and almost large enough to make a seat in the water. Ahead of her, Inuyasha was floating in the water, gripping the bank of the brook with both hands at his side, his head partially under water. His nose was under the water, or else he might have smelled her there, staring at him. Kagura was unsure as to what compelled her to get in the water, but she couldn't have stopped herself if she wanted to. Kagura slipped her white and red kimono off of her body, and then followed with the blue and green houri beneath it. Kagura's body was thin, and she was small framed, but she was smooth and covered in scars beneath her clothes.

Once she dipped herself into the water, she stared ahead at the hanyou in front of her. Part of her hated how quiet he was, and wished that he would be angry, and violent, like he normally was. Then again, he normally was driven to kill both her and Naraku. Kagura figured that if he was so damaged by the loss of Kagome's presence, as she was damaged by Naraku's disappearance, maybe she could benefit from the cold of this water, as well. Lowering herself as he had done, and closing her eyes, Kagura found herself becoming lost in a sort of translucent thought process. She felt the cold water snake up and around her body, and with its current, her thoughts floated away.

She was in bliss. Definite bliss, and she was unafraid of any consequences.

_Where are you Naraku? Why have you left me so confused? How dare you expect me to just go without my questions being answered!_

Kagura was distracted by the motion of waves around her shoulders. Opening her bright red eyes, she met the golden ones of Inuyasha, staring at her in confusion, as if he was lost. Completely lost.

Jumping up to where her mouth was above the water, Kagura began to speak, but was interrupted by Inuyasha's confused questions.

"What are you doing out here? Didn't you see I was here already?!" He asked her, in anger, probably from embarrassment.

Kagura, who would have apologized, now wanted to toy with the hanyou. Her eyes narrowed a little, and her mouth pursed into a smirk. "Do you own this brook, Hanyou?"

Inuyasha grit his teeth, and glared at her. "No, but—"

Kagura chuckled, "Then what is the matter? I am only resting, as you are."

Inuyasha splashed his hands forward, and thought about getting out of the water, but he didn't want her to see him naked. "Ugh! You're so difficult! Why can't you just leave me in peace, woman?"

Kagura sighed and ran her hand over her loose black hair. "I simply came to see what you were doing, Inuyasha. I am just as confused, and lost about this whole situation as you. I'd appreciate it if you addressed me by my name, as well. I've given you that respect, the least you can do is do the same." She said, her voice firm and authoritative.

Inuyasha, who would have normally lashed out and told her to get bent, raised his eyebrows at what she said. "You're confused and lost? Why?" he asked.

Kagura looked at him as if he was totally stupid, and sighed again, "If you haven't noticed, Inuyasha, in our past, I have been with no one but Naraku. His absence is strange and unnerving for me. Just as I assume your missing priestess is for you. Am I wrong?" she asked him, tilting her head with curiosity.

Inuyasha shook his head. "No. You're not wrong. Not at all. The fact that she isn't here, freaks me out. I'm not dependent on her, obviously, I can take care of myself, and so can the others. But…I guess…we like her around, you know?" he explained, but stopped himself, splashing more water in her direction. "Why am I telling you this?! You're just here to find Naraku. You don't care about Kagome!" he growled, his eyes taking on a darker tone.

Kagura smiled. "You're right. I only care about finding Naraku, and leaving with the jewel. But we promised your Monk friend that we would get along enough to find them both, am I right? So, stop stressing yourself out, hanyou. It'll only make this journey longer for you." She said as she dodged the splash he tossed at her again.

Kagura was distracted with spinning her hand around in the water, and so Inuyasha took this chance to swim over to her. His naked body was only inches from hers as he placed his hands on the side of the brook and stared her in the eyes. Kagura's eyes were bright red, as mentioned before, but not the color of a tomato. They were darker, like blood, but they looked as if the sun was constantly shining through one side of them. Her skin was paper white, and her mouth was always the color of her eyes. Her jet black hair, when let out of the bun she wore it in all of the time, hung to the middle of her back. It reminded Inuyasha of Kagome, and of Kikyou, in a strange way; although, Kagura looked, and acted nothing like either one of them. Inuyasha actually hated this woman. He was floating two inches away from her equally naked body and he hated her. Hated her with a bitter passion, and he couldn't resist from getting this close to her.

Her eyes were wide, now, and she looked at him strangely. Like she wanted him to touch her, but not in a nice way—like she wanted him to hate her. Inuyasha seethed inside, and he leaned his face closer to hers, to where their noses were nearly touching.

"We will find Kagome, with or _without _your help, Kagura. You are here with us because you've lost your precious Naraku, and are trying your hardest to hide the fact that you're in love with that disgusting beast. But if you even act like you're going to take the jewel shards from us, _I will personally tear you to pieces." _Inuyasha warned, before jumping up and out of the water behind Kagura, who sat there, stunned.

_**Inside of Naraku's palace, in the kitchen**_

"Kagome, come here." Naraku ordered, as he walked into the doorway of the large sized kitchen area of his palace, where Kagome was chopping a few vegetables into small cubes to put into a giant pot of soup for Naraku's dinner. When she heard his voice, she stood up and turned to face him, and then gently padded her way over to him on bare feet.

Her brown shoes had been ruined days before, and she'd been stuck living with no shoes since then, not having enough time to make herself some wooden sandals. Naraku was much taller than she was, he was even a little taller than Inuyasha when she thought about it. His dark hair framed his face expertly, and it hung down to his hips. Normally, back in present time, Kagome wouldn't have found long hair to be attractive on a man, but here in feudal Japan, that's what it was all like, so she'd grown accustomed to it; and had even grown to like it. When he wasn't being violent or angry, Naraku's eyes were soft, large, and dark brown, like they were in this moment.

Kagome knew that he wasn't upset with her, and so her demeanor changed a little, she softened herself and stood a little taller. "Yes, master Naraku?" she asked him, her voice, usually timid and excited, was now quiet and submissive.

Naraku smiled down at his prisoner, and he noticed how unruly her hair was, not having a way to take care of it other than tying it back in a loose pony tail like it was now. He also took notice of her clothes, how dirty they were, and how scarred and bruised her legs were. Her usual pale, shiny skin was dull and dirty now, and he wasn't enjoying looking at her as he usually did.

"Follow me, please." He demanded, turning swiftly on one foot, as he began to walk out of the kitchen, and then down the long hallway.

Kagome began to wonder what he was up to, but she knew better than to ask him. He was all powerful over her. Kagome watched the frame of his body as he walked. Her eyes rested on his broad shoulders, from where she walked behind him, she could barely see the outline of his pointed nose, and beautifully carved chin. Throwing herself out of her thoughts, she questioned herself. _What the hell are you looking at, Kagome? That's Naraku! The man who took you from your friends! The man who has tried to kill your friends, and you—not to mention—thousands of times! _

"Don't be ashamed to look at me, Kagome." Naraku said, a deep chuckle forming in his throat, "You have caught me plenty of times, looking at that body of yours." He taunted, before turning yet again to go down a much shorter hallway.

Kagome followed behind him, her dirty face turning a darker shade of red as she blushed under his words. "I—I see." She murmured.

"Don't stutter. It makes you sound like a child." Naraku warned, his voice growing an edge, "You are a woman, Kagome. I don't want you to act like a fool."

They finally came to a stop, and Kagome waited to see what it was that they would be doing. She looked around him and saw that they were standing in front of a large, ornately decorated doorway. There was a heavy round ring knocker in the middle of it. Naraku then turned to face Kagome.

"You have been my prisoner for some time, now." He started, "Haven't you?"

Kagome glared up at him. "Yes." She stated strongly.

"Yes what?" Naraku questioned.

Kagome looked up at him, "Yes, _Master Naraku." _She spat.

Naraku chuckled again, her fire amusing him as it always does, and he stepped closer to her, bending over to where his face was right in front of hers. Kagome's breath hitched, and she stared into his eyes. Kagome was eighteen years old now, and she _was _growing up. Noticing attractive men sort of came with that. It was just so very confusing that it was Naraku that she was noticing at this moment. His breath smelled of cloves and lavender, and she loved that smell.

"Would you like to go home, Kagome?" Naraku asked her, a calm expression on his face.

Kagome stared at him, aghast. "What?" she asked him, afraid to stutter.

"Exactly what I said, would you like to go home?" Naraku repeated, standing up straight and looking down at her.

Kagome stared up at him. "Yes. I do." She explained.

Naraku reached back and slapped her hard across the face. Kagome yelped and caught herself against the wall before she hit the ground, her eyes lowered to the ground and she heaved heavily, standing back up she turned to look at him defiantly.

"Why can't I leave?!" she screamed, her eyes watery with tears.

Naraku stepped closer to her, "The past is your prison, Kagome," he started, sliding his clawed finger down across her face gently so she could feel the nail, but not actually hurt her. It made her shiver, he saw. "You will never be released." He stated calmly.

Kagome began to cry silent tears as she stared at him, knowing that everything he just said, was the truth.

* * *

Authors Note: Thank you for reading! I do not own any of the storylines, or characters from Inuyasha. I am just bored,a dn write this for fun! Also, forgive me for any typo's I may have missed.


	2. Two

_**[[WARNING:Do not read if easily offended by sexual content. Also, I do NOT want to see hate reviews on the sexual content that is put into this post. The way that the event occurs WILL, fold into the storyline, and it only being chapter two shouldn't have anything to do with it. Read the story, but be kind to know that this is not the last chapter and you do not know how I will end this story. Thank you. ]]**_

_**Chapter Two**_**: Black haired demon, Black haired beauty. **

_**Somewhere in the East , in front of a large mountain.**_

"Kagura… I thought you said that this was going to be a castle." Shippo asked curiously, as he hopped down from his usual perch on Miroku's shoulder, and padded over to where she was standing. He looked up at the wind sorceress and saw that she had a strange perplexed expression on her face.

Kagura broke out of her thoughts for a second and looked back down at Shippo. "Oh, well…it's strange…I could have sworn there _was _a castle here. I was here myself with Naraku only months ago. I don't think it could have been moved." She explained, not feeling like what she had said would soothe any of them.

It had been three days since the incident between Inuyasha and Kagura, and he hadn't said a direct word to her since then, but the others didn't seem to notice—probably figured it was the original hate that was between the two demons. Miroku walked over to the two and began to look around where Kagura said the castle would have been.

Sango was standing next to Kirara who usually took full form when they traveled with people they didn't trust, namely, Kagura. She also followed Miroku to look around and see what the deal was with the castle. Inuyasha was standing off to the side, his arms crossed as he gazed around the area they were in, wondering why it looked so familiar. Then, he realized that they'd fought here before. Naraku had captured Miroku and Sango and was trying to convince Sango to join him, and she refused, but tried her hardest to get Kohaku to come back to them. This was before she ever found out he was trapped, like Kagura.

Inuyasha sighed as he watched them. "Sango, maybe you and Kirara should get an aerial view of the mountain, to see if it _has _been moved, or whatever? Miroku, how about you and Shippo walking out a little further into those pastures, and see if you can find anything of use." Inuyasha directed, his voice was rough, and he sounded tired.

Kagura could see what he was doing, and was curious to see why he was making it so that they would be alone—or if he was even doing that to begin with.

Sango nodded in agreement, and then she and Kirara took off flying into the air, toward the mountain. Miroku nodded and Shippo took his place on his shoulder and those two began walking off into the distance.

Once they were out of sight, Inuyasha turned to Kagura and said in an authoritative voice. "We need to talk."

_**Inside a very beautifully decorated bedroom, Naraku's Castle**_

Kagome rolled over in the softly made bed that she was sleeping in, and yawned, as she slowly woke from her slumber. Her thoughts instantly landed upon her captor, who had, three days ago, slapped a new reality into her mind. _I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my life. _Kagome sat up, and rubbed her sore elbows. All of the cleaning she'd been doing seemed to wear on her bones after a few days of sleeping, and she began to notice how lazy she felt.

Standing up, she walked over to where a small mirror was hanging on the wall next to a few strange Asian looking masks. Kagome noticed how different she looked now that she'd been able to bathe. Her oily, scraggly tangled hair was now straight—somewhat, it was a little messy from sleep—and shiny. It returned itself to its normal luster, or at least as much as it could without shampoo. Her skin wasn't littered with acne as a result from sweating and not being able to rinse her face, and her teeth were cleaner than they were. Kagome's eyes were wide, and brighter now.

Her arms were thick with muscle, and her chest had gotten larger, her breasts growing a size or two. Her stomach was flat, and if you ran your hand over it you could feel the hard abdomen beneath the skin. Standing naked in the room she was given, she looked at herself, and continued to be amazed about the entire weekend. The man who'd captured her, abused her, and expected her to respect him—had shown his first actual bit of kindness.

_Three Days ago_

"Fine. I don't want to go home, Master." Kagome had muttered after Naraku had slapped her against the wall to her side.

Naraku raised an eyebrow, "What was that?" he asked her, softly, leaning down to where he could look into her brown eyes.

Kagome leaned closer to his face, so that he would definitely hear her. "I do not want to go home, Master."

Naraku smiled lightly, "You want to stay?" he asked, curious.

Kagome smiled the first smile she'd smiled in a month. "Yes, Master Naraku, I'd like to stay here." She lied.

Naraku knew it was a lie, but it was what he wanted her to say, and so he took it into his cold void of a heart. He stood up straight and then opened up the door he'd brought her to.

"Here, follow me, darling Kagome." He'd cooed softly, as if he was the happiest he'd ever been, and then turned to lead her into the bedroom.

Kagome couldn't believe how that would have gotten his attention in such away, but her thoughts were stolen out from underneath her in the instant she saw the room. It was colored beautifully, with reds and gold. It had a large bed in the center, with a large velvet red curtain hanging around it, to hide the actual mattress, which was adorned with specifically designed sakura flowers imprinted upon a golden thread. There was a small bathroom attached to the room with a large tub used for taking a bath in, and a wash basin to wash your face in, and above the wash basin was a small mirror just big enough to see your own face in.

Naraku turned to look at Kagome's appreciative face, and was almost compelled to take her in that moment, but he held his tongue, and his hands at his side. "Kagome, my sweet, stop staring. You'll have this sight every day, and I don't want you to get tired of its appearance so soon." He'd teased.

Kagome looked at him in a confused way, the first room she'd slept In when he'd first brought her here, was more like a supply closet filled with pales for water, and a cold wooden floor was her bed. There was no way she'd understood that he was trying to offer this room to her. "What do you mean, master?"

"I've been working on this room for a week or two now, Kagome. This room is yours." He said, throwing his hand out slowly to the side, to showcase the gift in all of its glory. "Now, get some rest. Dinner will be ready in a few hours." He said, and then stepped out of the room.

Kagome was at a loss in that moment, but she took off in a hurry to get her body clean, it took her a few minutes or so to bring the pales of water up into the tub, but once she did, she sunk down and deep into the water and began scrubbing every nook and cranny she could think of. She'd been dirty like this for much longer than she'd ever like to repeat, and he was finally letting her bathe. Her hair was grimy, but running her fingers through the now cold water made it feel much cleaner, and her face felt so much better afterwards.

_Present_

The past three days, Kagome had been almost pampered by the man. He'd brought her breakfast in bed the day after he'd given her the room, and he'd fashioned a comb out of the ribs of a very small animal for her, and had even stained a handle for it, and he'd combed her hair for her. Kagome, still very unsure as to their relationship—or what the demon master was expecting from her—just went along with it. It still shocked her that, she barely ever thought of Inuyasha anymore.

Walking outside of the bedroom, she slowly walked down the hallway, her hair now pulled over her forehead, and into a small bun with red chop sticks, the color matched her kimono she wore. Kagome had taken in the past few days to dress as they did, seeing as she'd tried her best to accept she wouldn't be leaving for a while. _Never. _Kagome heard clanking in the kitchen, and she turned inside the large door, and was faced with Naraku's large hands fumbling to cut up a large onion without squinting. Kagome chuckled, and Naraku snapped his frustrated eyes up at her.

_**With Inuyasha and Kagura**_

"What is it, Inuyasha? What have I done now?" she asked him, a little angry.

Inuyasha faltered a little and looked to the side, not wanting to make eye contact. "Well, I was just going to say that I remember this place." He nodded toward Sango and Miroku, "and they will too, here in a little while. I'm just saying that once they remember it, they won't be happy. There are some bad memories attached with it, and I think it's best not to make them travel when they are upset."

Kagura stared at him, "Really?" she asked him.

Inuyasha sighed, "Yes, _Really. _I just don't think it's good for our morale, you know?"

Kagura stared at him for a moment, but then she shrugged and said, "What about this place do you remember?" she was curious.

Inuyasha looked up at her darkly, "You trying to murder my friends, and your lover almost succeeding in that." He stopped, but then muttered a little quieter. "I also remember burning this place down."

Kagura grit her teeth, "You did this?" she grumbled.

"I was tired of seeing it every time I went searching for food, Kagura. It slipped my mind when you were mapping everything out, and I didn't remember until I saw the scorch mark on that mountain over there." Inuyasha said, nudging toward the mountain.

Kagura jumped forward and had him against a tree in an instant, her hard nails digging into the side of his neck.

"What the fuck!?" Inuyasha growled loudly, pushing against her, but she was much stronger.

"Was he inside?" she spat, her voice seething behind her teeth, and her grip tightening.

Inuyasha kicked at her, and pushed her off of him, throwing her back a few feet. She landed on her bottom and was standing up in an instant. "No, you demented woman! Your precious Naraku wasn't inside! No one was!" Inuyasha shouted, kicking dirt at her.

Kagura blocked the dirt and stared at him. She'd lost her temper because of Naraku, yet again, but there was more happening inside of her. She'd wanted to see Inuyasha become violent with her as he usually was, since she'd joined their group five days ago. She had her chance to get him angry, and she took it. _Both times, both times that I had a chance to provoke him—I took it—what is my problem. _Kagura thought to herself before she stood up and turned on her heels and ran the other way.

Inuyasha watched as she stood up as if she was going to come at him again, but then turned as quickly as lightning and ran away from him. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, and then looked back to see if Shippo, Miroku, or Sango had returned. None of them had, and he wondered what was taking them all so long, but then he looked back and sighed, grumbling under his breath.

Inuyasha took off to find Kagura.

_**In the kitchen, with Naraku**_

"Kagome!" Naraku shouted, but then cleared his throat, realizing he was yelling. Water touched the corners of his red eyes.

Kagome knew he was only frustrated because of the onion, and that his eyes were red because of that as well, so she walked toward where he was standing, and looked up at him. A soft smile hit her lips involuntarily and she stepped in front of him, where her back was facing him. Her small hand took the large knife out of his hand, and she began to cut the onion. She cut it fast, and with expert precision, and Naraku watched in amazement, as it didn't seem to fluster her as badly as it did him to cut the stupid vegetable up. Naraku wasn't even used to cooking, and since she'd been here, he'd had to do that a lot. Kagome finished chopping all three of the onions she'd had in front of her, and Naraku was smelling her hair. She'd done something with the lavender petals she'd been given as patchouli and made her hair smell like it, he could tell.

"Master…what are you doing?" Kagome's startled, but hesitant voice called out to him.

Naraku broke out of his trance, and noticed that he'd smelled her hair, outwardly. "I only smelled your hair, Kagome. What did you do to it?" he'd asked her, not shy about his actions at all, actually, he could feel the heat rising in his stomach, and he knew that this was a bad idea, to be this close to her while she looked and smelled like that.

Kagome chuckled again, light and airy, and then pulled her hair out of the bun, letting it bounce onto her shoulders, causing the scent to fly around the room even more, and she pulled it out to where she could smell it with her own nose. "Oh! I put the lavender leaves into the water when I bathed last night, and it made me smell good. Do you like it?" she stopped herself, wondering why in the world she cared if Naraku liked the way she smelled or not.

Naraku watched her for a few seconds before he inched closer to her, dipping her neck to the side with his large hands, he slid his nose along the length of her shoulder up to the nape of her neck, and then by her ear lobe, inhaling deep as he did so. He could smell Lavender all over her skin. It was enticing, and he could feel himself harden while he held her. His shoulders tensed, and his fingers in her hair curled into a fist, gently pulling her back to his face. "I _do _like it." Naraku answered, a raspy, dark voice came out of his throat, and it caused the already stricken Kagome to gasp lightly, her eyes widening at the dark shade his brown eyes had taken.

Kagome could tell what he was feeling, and she had the urge to repel him off of her, but she only knew that if she pushed him away, he'd kill her. Kagome whimpered a little, and his eyes grew wider. The noise only making his excitement worse, and in a strange way, a tingle shot up Kagome's spine when she'd noticed the tenseness that her captor had shown. _How can I affect him in such a way? _

Naraku growled loudly, a slow rumble, and he stood up straight, releasing Kagome's hair and clearing his throat, In a second, he had Kagome up into his arms, and he was walking sturdily down the hall.

_**In a clearing closer to the mountain, with Sango, Shippo and Miroku**_

Sango stopped, and stared at dark black grass in the center of the clearing. Jumping off of Kirara, she began to walk closer to where it seems a large residency was placed at one point. Miroku had caught up to them, and Shippo had been jumping up and down behind him, trying to keep up his pace, and now Miroku was standing beside Sango, who had bent down to pick up some of the grass.

"Miroku, this grass is just crumbling beneath my fingers." She started, her voice soft and thoughtful.

In the background, Kirara and Shippo walked around slowly together, trying to leave the two alone.

Miroku suddenly remembered, and he wished he hadn't. The memories of sharp pain shooting up his hand, and his inability to get Sango away from Naraku in time for him to leave her alone, caused him physical pain at that moment and he stepped back, staggering a little. "Sango, can you not remember this place?" he asked her, his voice hitching slowly.

Sango stood up, a little worried, and then looked around the area. Her eyes suddenly started growing wider, and she murmured under her breath. "No…." turning to face Miroku, whose face was lost and very much in pain, she felt her own chest begin to heave. "Miroku!" Sango shouted, sadness seeping from all of her pores.

Memories of her brother Kohaku, being slapped down by Naraku, and Miroku falling over in pain, tears falling from his eyes as he tried his hardest to get to her. To keep her from going to Kohaku, who was only faking pain and sympathy so that he could attack her—his own sister? Kohaku beat Sango nearly to death, and she couldn't do anything about it, because Naraku had paralyzed her with some sort of poison that Kagura had put together. Sango remembered feeling her heart break as she watched Kagura lash at Miroku with her wind knives, and she watched him try to crawl toward her.

Tears began to soak her face, and she ran to Miroku, gripped his shoulders and shook him. He was losing his focus, and so was she. Trying to forget that night along with many other encounters with Naraku. Miroku was growing angry as he thought of the whole incident, and he normally spiraled into hating himself and doubting himself when he thought of nights like that. "Miroku! Snap out of it!" Sango pleaded, her hands searching his face with her fingers.

Miroku knew she was standing there, knew that she was touching him, but he couldn't snap out of it. It made him feel like dying, realizing that the scars on Sango's back and legs was because of what her brother did to her, and her brother was able to do that to her because Miroku couldn't get to her. He couldn't. _I just couldn't get to you Sango. I couldn't get to you, and it's all my fault. _He told himself over and over.

Sango reeled back and closed her eyes as she slapped him hard across the face. "Miroku! Wake up!" she shouted, angrily. She wasn't about to let this happen again.

Miroku stumbled over, clutching at his face. His monk robes were dirty at the bottom because they'd been walking so long and Sango and Kagome weren't able to wash them. Miroku stood and looked back at her, his left hand resting on his cheek where she'd slapped him.

"Sango?" he'd asked her, as if it hurt him inside that she'd hit him.

"I'm sorry—I—" she started, afraid she'd upset him, she walked closer to where he was standing, and pulled his hand away, and caressed his face.

"I know." Miroku nodded, sure of what she had done that before, and then he hugged her innocently, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her to him. "I am sorry." He apologized into her ear, he apologized for everything, for the finding of this place, for reminding her of the night, for her brother, for him not being able to get to her.

Sango hugged him back, tears slowly coming out of her eyes. "I don't blame you." She whispered back.

_**With Inuyasha**_

Kagura had gone somewhere, but he had no idea where she was at this moment, and he'd almost decided to turn around and go back when he heard the leaves rustling in the trees. Inuyasha grit his teeth and murmured to himself, "I should have known she'd do that." He said, remembering her large feather, and the fact that she constantly traveled on that thing.

Inuyasha jumped up into the tree, and began to jump from tree to tree until he could see the outline of her kimono and a little bit of her pattern in an extremely tall tree about ten yards away from him. Inuyasha decided to be quiet as he snuck up on her. He'd gotten close to where she was, and then, she turned to face him.

"I could smell you from a mile away, Inuyasha. Don't try and sneak up on me." She'd said softly, before turning away.

Inuyasha looked at her in a strange way, like he was trying to understand the look on her face. "What's wrong with you, Kagura." He asked her, not as gently as he'd hoped.

Kagura's shoulders lowered, "There are a lot of things wrong with me."

Inuyasha hopped to the limb that was closest to where her feather was floating. He looked over to her, and hung his legs off of the side. "No, I mean…why did you run from me?" he was a little gentler this time.

Kagura noticed the change in his voice and demeanor and she sighed softly. "I've realized that we have to hurry, in case your Kagome be lost forever." She whispered solemnly.

Inuyasha looked at her, tilting his head. "What are you talking about?" He questioned.

Kagura began to tell Inuyasha of how Naraku treated his women, and how the demon's power was very menacing, and controlling, and that it took someone very strong to be able to get away from him. But either way, they would never be the same again. Kagura told Inuyasha of her first capture by Naraku, when he'd trained her to be incredibly strong, then he taught her to call him Master, and he'd used her body in ways she'd never understood before. He all in all made his women fall in love with him, so that it would be easier to implant them with a shard, and make them obey him.

"Y—You mean…he has…" Inuyasha was worried about Kagome, and didn't think that she would live through a captor like that, now finally, he doubted her. Rage suddenly filled him, thinking about Naraku putting his hands on her in any kind of way , made him angry.

"Yes," Kagura remembered, "but, he's never chosen a human before—and I'm not sure why he has sought out for Kagome. There must be something different about her, that he desires, so, we may have time." Kagura tried her hardest to distract the hanyou from his thoughts.

Inuyasha looked up at Kagura, whose eyes were sad. "You are in love with him aren't you?" he asked her, briskly.

Kagura grimaced under the question, and looked off into the distance. "It's kind of a love hate." She started, before turning to Inuyasha and smiling, "I think he's turned me into a masochist. I find myself searching for people to make angry, and for people to touch me in violent ways, like grabbing and pushing…." She ran her fingers over her shoulders gently. "But I blame him for that. Because truthfully…I don't want any of that."

Inuyasha couldn't say anything, he just sat with her. His thoughts were also on Kagome, and wondering what she was going through at that moment.

_**With Naraku**_

Kagome held onto his neck when he'd lifted her up, because it had shocked her nonetheless, that he had done it to begin with. Kagome should have known the day he'd told her not to worry about looking at him—she should have known that he was planning on this—and right now, she couldn't face what she was going to do. The only thing her body could do was freeze, and in situations like this—that was less than useful. Naraku was breathing so heavily under Kagome, that her chest was rising with his. Her nerves were on edge, and she felt a strange burning in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes were searching the hallway they were in, and she couldn't recognize it, he must have taken a different turn than normal. Where they were going, was a place Kagome had never been before.

Naraku's hands were incredibly large, and Kagome noticed those more than anything most of the time. One of his hands could crush her skull if he so desired that. One hand was in the middle of her back, a thick finger resting roughly against her spinal cord, and the other hand was laced underneath her bent legs, as he carried her bridal style down the hallway. Kagome began to speak, worrisome of its outcome, but wanting to break the strange silence. "Master, where are you taking me?" she asked him, her voice strong, like she wasn't utterly horrified.

Naraku looked down at Kagome and stared at her eyes, not breaking his pace at all. Kagome took in his appearance at that moment, his broad shoulders tensed, his arm muscles beneath his houri, and his long black hair flying behind him as he walked, and she knew instantly what was going to happen to her. _So this is what happens to me, this time. _Kagome thought to herself, her eyes shaking with worry, and her heart beginning to beat so fast she could feel it in her throat. Naraku turned his red eyes away from her, and then when they'd gotten to the door that he was heading for, he threw her over his shoulder so that he could unlock it. Kagome yelped as he tossed her over his shoulder, and listened to him rustle with his keys frantically. Then, she felt him walking again and grew nervous.

Naraku placed Kagome down on the floor, planting her feet so that she could regain her balance, and he turned to turn on the light, and lock the door back. Kagome was faced with a room much more beautiful than her own, and much larger. Naraku's bed alone was nearly the size of her room. He had a large view, and she could tell that he very much liked mountain views considering that he'd had one at each palace they'd been at.

Kagome turned then, because she'd realized it had grown eerily silent, to face Naraku, who was staring at her as if he was trying to decide something.

_What are you trying to decide, Naraku? Are you trying to decide to rape me or not? You've made it to where I can't escape you anyway, why don't you just go for it? You're the big bad demon here, aren't you? _Kagome thought to herself, but she also hesitated on the thought. Would it be rape? _I can't stop feeling like…I knew this was going to happen from the very beginning. I was prepared for it, yet I didn't take any precautions…instead, I put perfume on, I did my hair…I dressed in an attractive fashion for this era….what else did I expect? Do I want this? _Kagome pushed those thoughts out of her head, trying not to decide whether she wanted to have this kind of moment with a demon who had tried to kill her many times, because it was something she'd never wanted to think about, and never thought plausible to begin with. But still, there was that warm sensation in the pit of her stomach, and the heat rising in her thighs, as well as her fingertips itching to pull at something.

Kagome's eyes raised from the floor, staring at his feet, and all the way up to his chest, which was still heaving in such a violent way, she wondered why he hadn't moved yet. Then, her eyes rested on his face, curved in a sharp way, but smooth around his lips and his cheeks. She noticed how his hair naturally framed his face, and how his large brown eyes made him look like an innocent boy in this moment. Kagome sighed softly, her eyes locking with his, _I have a plan, and in order for this to work—Inuyasha—forgive me, but I have to do what I can. _ She thought to herself.

Naraku's breath hitched and he growled again, his chest rumbling under it. "Why do you stare at me like that, Kagome?" he asked her, his brown eyes slowly turning into their deep red color that normally sent frightened chills down her spine.

Kagome smirked, having now composed herself to where she could act the way she needed to. "I only look at you in one way, Master." She stated, her voice taking on a softer, huskier sound.

Naraku huffed, taking a step closer to her, "And what look is that?" he asked her, his voice deep and scary.

Kagome ran her fingers through her hair, and then she stepped forward, inching closer to the demon that towered over her massively. Naraku looked down at her, raising one eyebrow, but staying still. His hands clenched into fists, caused Kagome's stomach to tighten. Weeks ago, she was frightened still of this man, and now she challenged him, right here, in this locked room—she challenged him. "Whatever look you want me to have, Master Naraku, I will have." She said her voice soft and gentle, a little bit of a whimper at the end.

Naraku released his clenched fists and began to laugh, his claws were long and sharp at the ends of his fingertips, and when he laughed Kagome could see his fangs. "I see." He said, as he lifted her again, this time by her hips, to where their eyes were level.

Kagome's feet were off of the ground, and she could feel the heat in her stomach rising almost to her throat when he touched her hips, and she pressed her hands on his shoulders, and jumping a little to where she'd wrap her legs around his hips, tightening them strongly around the demon. "Yes, you do." She whispered, "And so do I." she explained, feeling something else take over her body, as she latched her hands into his hair, and smelled him just as he had smelled her in the kitchen only moments before.

_You still smell like cloves and lavender, Naraku. I'll never forget that smell. Ever. _

Kagome pulled at his hair when she pulled back to look at him, and she wished she hadn't. She wished she would have just let him be this morning. Naraku's eyes were fully red now, and they looked hungry. He wasn't human Naraku anymore; he was demon, and only demon. His instincts wouldn't be that of a human, and she knew he wouldn't be gentle with her.

Naraku took three long strides, and threw her onto the bed with him, her legs still entangled around him as he shoved his mouth hard against her ill prepared lips. Kagome let out a moan of frustration from underneath him, her hips rising against his weight, feeling the heavy pressure of such a large demon on her body caused her to writhe in slight pain. Eventually, she opened her mouth and kissed him as roughly as she could. Showing him that there was no way she was going to let him win. That heat inside of her stomach was out of control now, and now it seemed to have Kagome by the strings and was using her as a puppet to tease and challenge this overly powerful demon in ways she would probably never recover. Kagome couldn't fight anymore. Naraku leaned up from his position, and was now on his knees, when he spread Kagome's legs apart, and from her body he ripped her bright red Kimono and under dress and threw them to the side. Naraku was facing a near-naked Kagome, and she stared up at him as he marveled in the sight of her. Kagome was a little confused, but more embarrassed than anything, having someone stare at her like that was a new thing for her.

"Master…" Kagome whispered, breaking him from his gaze on her chest, and snapping his eyes up at her.

Naraku collided with her again, kissing her ferociously all over her body. Licking from her neck, to the hip bones that had begun to form on her sides, and he ran his claws down the length of her arms, and he felt her buck underneath him, feeling the Goosebumps rise on her skin. He reached behind her and ran his huge hand up her spine until he met her bra, and hurriedly ripped it from behind her. Kagome knew he'd broken it, and leaned up as fast as she could to help him remove it from her chest, along with her underwear, which all but confused him when he was taking those off. Kagome pulled at his houri, and that caused a huge smirk from Naraku as she fussed with it. "Eager, are we?" he purred into her ear, as he pulled his clothes off above her, and pressed his body heavily against her smooth skin. He kissed her violently again, his tongue searching her mouth roughly, Kagome ran her hands over his muscled shoulders hesitantly, and then she too, growled beneath him, scratching her nails down the skin on his back, causing him to rear back and slam his hands over her wrists heavily, holding them to the side of her head, and he began to kiss her breasts tenderly. Sliding down to where her hips were slowly rocking in writhing motions, he grabbed both of her hip bones and pulled her hips upward.

Kagome felt her own intake of breath as she felt his long tongue slide up and around her thighs, and then finally found its destination inside of her body. Kagome had never had this happen to her, and she was just as new to this as anyone else—but something about her let that nervous part of her disappear, and left nothing but the hungry, desperate part of her. Kagome grabbed his hair into her fists as he sucked and licked all over her heat. He was making all kinds of noises beneath her, and she was turned on more and more by every growl he made as he kissed and sucked, and licked at her. Kagome began to whimper as that heat turned into a cold feeling inside of her stomach, and she began to twitch in desperate ways pulling his hair, and rocking underneath his tongue.

Naraku lifted his head up and stared at her, as she stared down at him. "What do you want?" he'd asked her, and that had thrown her off, but she recoiled and then snapped back, "No, what do _You_ want, Master Naraku?" and that took that gorgeous smile off of his face, and he crawled up to where she could see all of him, and see exactly just from the sweat that was forming on his chest—she could see exactly what he wanted. Kagome grinned, and latched her legs around his hips as she had done before, but this time she moved him around with the newly acquired muscles and pulled him to her.

In that moment, Naraku was able to position himself perfectly, and he pressed himself just at her opening, and Kagome could feel how large he was before her. Her eyes widened, and she waited. Naraku could hear her gasping, and he hadn't even been all the way inside of her, he was just barely introducing himself to her. Naraku paused, and leaned down and bit her earlobe and licked the blood that came from it and began to suck the spot just behind her earlobe. Kagome yelped at the pain of the bite, but began to whimper in a needy way as he waited to move.

"Damn you, Naraku." Kagome's husky voice changed, rough and dark it sounded beneath him as she clutched at his hair, and arched her back. Naraku looked up from where he was, a little nip of blood still on the corner of his lip as he tilted his head at her. "What was that?" he asked, curiosity making him smile. "I said, _damn you." _Kagome repeated, the fear in her soul, completely gone. "For what, my sweet?" Naraku teased. Kagome leaned up and kissed him vehemently, biting at his lips, and sucking. Naraku kissed her back, and in one swift motion, pushed himself inside of her.

Naraku was the first one make a sound, he could feel how tight she was around him, and nearly felt like he couldn't move. Kagome tightened even more around him, and she moaned at the feeling, and Naraku huffed above her. He began to slowly push deeper inside of her. Kagome felt her body arch, as she could feel how thick he was inside of her, and she felt the pain she'd always heard rumors about. She was sure that there was blood, for Naraku was a large man. Her legs tightened around him, however, and she rocked her hips upward, inviting the pain. Naraku took that as a hint to move, and began thrusting as hard as he possibly could into her heat. Her screams were soon all you could hear for a long time. Naraku began to sound rough, and desperate for air as he pounded into her. He couldn't believe he'd taken her this soon, and he couldn't believe that she felt this way. He could smell the blood and realized what he'd done, but couldn't stop, because she wouldn't allow it/. It seemed that his plan was working as well as he'd hoped it would, even better in this case.

Naraku slid his hand under her, to the small of her back and lifted her up to where he was on his knees, and she was on top of him, wrapping her arms around him, he stood up, and carried her to the other side of the room, where he slammed her against a wall and continued to make the priestess scream. She was clutching at him, harder than before, having drawn his own blood a few times by her scratching, and Naraku could feel the demon inside of him growing as he hit her harder and harder. Throwing her to the wood floor, he crawled on top of her there, and took no gentle need as he slammed into her once again, and he leaned down and bit hard onto her shoulder. Causing her eyes to open wide, and she screamed until her voice was hoarse, but she kept moving her hips under him.

Kagome couldn't believe how good it felt, even though she hated herself for it all. _This is Naraku! Naraku is doing this to you. He is a liar, A demon, you….you whore! _She told herself. But there was something inside of her that overpowered her conscience, and she pushed Naraku up from his position, and laid him back on his back, and sat on top of him, sliding back on top of him, feeling him deep inside of her as she began to move in a rhythm so slow it made him nervous, she could feel him shake beneath her, and he grabbed her hips and tightened his claws onto her skin, Kagome could feel that strange coolness turning back into heat, and she quickened her pace, and began to whimper above him, her hair hanging over her face as she clung to his chest. Her pace became twitchy and sporadic. Naraku noticed this and then he pulled her off of him, pulling her to him as he laid her down on the bed yet again, and then began to take her slowly.

Slow, and gentle he slid in and out of her, hearing her screams turn into soft moans was almost his boiling point, as she ran her fingers over his skin sensually, he quickened, and made sure that she could feel every inch of him for a little while before she began to say his name.

"N—Naraku…Please…Master…." She whimpered into his throat as she kissed him there.

Naraku felt his own fire rise and he began to slam into her again, knowing that she was already there, she was already past the point he wanted her to be in, and now it was his turn to do what he wanted. He slammed into her so hard, he could feel her limit inside of her, and felt her walls close down on him in a violent, and heavy way, and it caused him to arch his back and he began to move so fast it was hard for Kagome to comprehend how deep he was inside of her. That's when she felt her body stiffen, and her eyes began to burn and she let out one final scream, as did Naraku, before she felt her hands start to tingle, much like they did when she was about to purify someone.

Kagome's eyes widened and she began to shake her head, and she was pushing Naraku off, when he grinned, "That's what I wanted." He said as he didn't stop. Kagome began to fight against him, feeling the energy escaping from her whether Naraku would stop or not, it was a tingly burn that was mixed with desire, and satisfaction as well as fear.

It rose, and finally exploded from her finger tips, and her eyes shot back into the back of her head, and the whole room was enveloped in a bright white. Kagome couldn't remember after that, because as soon as she'd let go of the purifying energy, she passed out beneath Naraku.

_**With Inuyasha and Kagura/With Sango, Shippo, and Miroku**_

Inuyasha was still with Kagura when he felt the ground beneath the tree he was standing on shake, and he knew that something bad had happened, and had asked Kagura to take him back to Sango and the others. Once they got into the clearing of the Mountain, they could see the burnt grass, but Sango and Miroku and Shippo were all running up to Kagura's large feather.

"Inuyasha, did you feel that?" Miroku asked, knowingly.

Inuyasha nodded, "Yes, where did it come from?" he asked.

Sango pointed off toward the west, "In that direction. But, I've never felt it that heavily and from so far away before. I could even see the light in the sky for a second." She said, sounding a little worried.

Kagura asked, "What are you talking about? That earthquake?"

Inuyasha shook his head and looked at her, "No, that wasn't an earthquake."

Kagura raised her eyebrows, "Then what was it?" she was worried now.

Shippo pounced up to where he was facing Kagura and she looked down at him. "It was purifying energy. It comes from a priestess when she is trying to protect herself." He looked down at Inuyasha, whose eyes had clouded over a little.

Kagura gasped, "You mean…"

Miroku nodded, "Kagome." He murmured gently.

* * *

Authors Note:

I hate writing sex scenes, but unfortunately in this story there will be a few-it's sort of an introduction as to who Kagome will become. It's one of the ways that Naraku turns his women or his 'slaves' into the people that they are. It will also create a strange connection between Kagome and Kagura. Don't lose faith in Kagome yet, however, she may be trapped, and may be going through strange emotions, but she knows exactly what she's doing. :) Please be kind. My apologies, also, for any typo's or misspellings that I may have missed.

~Chels.


	3. Three

_**Chapter Three**__**: You are an Addict.**_

_**With Inuyasha and The Others, along a path near a river in the west.**_

It was only a few days after the signal from Kagome went off, and they'd decided to go a little bit further west, where the signal had come from. Sango said she'd seen a little glimpse of the white light that emitted from the purification site, and she knew that it was powerful, powerful enough to cause the ground to shake.

They were resting next to a path by a river with no name, closer to the next mark on the map. Kagura said that it would still take them a few days to get there, but they made sure to make the most out of every day walking, and taking turns flying on Kirara and Kagura's feather. Inuyasha never let up, he became very upset when it was time to rest, or when his own stomach began to growl inside.

It was becoming dark, the sky was orange, and to indicate the setting sun and they'd made sure not to make a habit of walking at night, due to the rumors of a bat demon flying over the villages looking for children and women. That put Sango, Kagura, and Shippo all in danger, and neither one of Miroku and Inuyasha wanted anything else to happen to anyone.

"Do you think she killed him?" Shippo blurted out, after having been quiet for the past few days, in deep thought it seemed.

Kagura snapped her head over to the boy, her eyes brightening for a moment before she caught Inuyasha's gaze, and his silent warning before turning her head to the fire again. Shippo seemed to have caught it and raised his hands nervously in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Kagura…I…I was only curious. That blast was really powerful…"he trailed off, not wanting to enrage the wind demon any more than he already had.

Miroku shrugged, "I highly doubt that it would have killed him. Honestly, I'm not sure what a purification would do to Naraku, anyway, he is an amazingly strong demon. As we all know." He said morosely, looking off to the side, avoiding Sango's gaze.

Sango sighed and nodded, "Yes. He is very strong, Shippo." She said soothing the little boy as he watched everyone grow quiet.

"It doesn't matter if it killed him or not! We're going to find her. That's the only thing that matters. As long as we know where she is, and whatever she is doing with her purification, we need to take that as a signal to find her." Inuyasha said definitely.

Kagura watched Inuyasha for a second, but grit her teeth and look away. The last conversation they had was in the tree when she'd discussed what could happen to Kagome if she were stuck with Naraku for too long, and Inuyasha was the only one who knew any of that. Kagura knew exactly what was happening to Kagome as she stayed there. She was being beaten, abused, and used every second of her life and she was in danger. Not because she would die, but simply because she would learn to love him. And then, she would surely be trapped.

_**In the Western Lands, with Sesshoumaru.**_

"But, Lord Sesshoumaru!" shouted Rin, her timid voice coming up in a worried tone as her master made his way out of the door to his castle. "What if it happened again? Y-You could get hurt!" she said, scared.

Sesshoumaru turned on his feet, his white hair flying about him gracefully. The man was nearly seven feet tall as he gazed down at the tiny human girl beneath him. The only one that he'd ever planned on having around, actually, and that was saying something. Sesshoumaru hates humans, still hates them to this day. Sometimes he finds it hard to be around Rin because of the way humans smell and act, and handle certain situations. He found them vile and weak.

All this disgust for humans, and a human, Rin, was the only creature in the castle that actually loved him. Actually cared that he lived through whatever adventure he went on.

Sesshoumaru's eyes softened only slightly, but it was a big sign to Rin, and light ignited in her face, and she smiled a toothy grin.

"My Rin." Sesshoumaru began, "Do you not have faith in me?" he asked her simply.

Rin's smile faltered, and she looked at him in disbelief.

"Of _course _I have faith in you, Sesshoumaru!" she said gripping at her pants nervously.

Sesshoumaru nodded, "Well then, I will be fine, and I will return." He said curtly before turning and disappearing out of the doorway.

He had heard the earthquake, and he'd looked to the sky fast enough to see the light. It wasn't very far off from his home, and some of the things in his castle had actually fallen off of the walls because of the impact. He wondered what it was, but the smell alone was foul enough to him. It was a mixture of sweat, lavender, human skin, and human blood.

Curiosity was not the only thing overwhelming him. It was the thought that the Western Lands were being attacked, but he wasn't even sure if it was something threatening because it had only happened once, three days ago.

Now, the only scent that was left, was lavender and human blood.

Sesshoumaru was off to find out what was going on.

_**With Kouga in the Eastern Lands**_

"Kouga! Kouga!" a high pitched male voice retorted as he watched Kouga stand outside of the den and stare off to the west, as he had for the past two days, "I have word from Kaede, that Kagome has gone missing…" he stopped, watching as Kouga snapped around to face him, a look of complete incredulousness on his face.

"_What did you say_?" he asked quietly, anger dripping off of his tongue.

Ginta backed up and raised his hands in front of him defensively, "Kaede said that! She said that K-Kagome had been missing for three weeks before Inuyasha and his group went looking for her. She said they've been gone for about two weeks now. Kagome has been missing for over a month, sir." He said nervously.

Kouga growled loudly, clenching his hands into fists roughly, "My Kagome has been missing for a month now? Inuyasha waited three weeks to look for her!? I don't understand!" he said angrily as he stomped into the den.

Kouga is the leader of the Wolf Clan of the Eastern Lands. Sesshoumaru and Kouga worked out a 'deal' that each of them would rule over one side of the land, and they would keep their people away from the other side, Kouga thought it was stupid. He just wanted to shut the white haired princess up. Kouga was usually followed by his two right hands, Ginta and Hakkaku, they found out the information that he needed to know for any of his errands.

When that earthquake went off, Kouga instantly smelled lavender, and blood, it was too far off for him to smell anything else, at least he thought. But almost instantly after the sound vanished, he caught a very definite scent of Kagome Higurashi. His wife-to-be.

Kouga was head over heels for Kagome, and he was bound and determined to make her his. But the instant he caught the scent of her, he knew that there was something wrong with her. Something had happened to her that couldn't be reversed, and that was why the purification was so strong.

He had Ginta and Hakkaku go to Kaede's village and ask about Kagome and see if she was alright, but this is what he found out. That she'd been kidnapped by someone, and Inuyasha just let it happen!

_**With Kagome, in her bedroom.**_

Kagome was hurting. Her whole body was covered in sweat, and she was writhing in pain. The cramps in her stomach weren't even the worst, it was the burning sensation she got from inside of her. It may have just been the reaction to how rough they were, and the fact that she'd been a virgin, but it was causing her serious pain. She had a light white wispy cloth covering her body as she lay still on the bed Naraku had made for her. Her black hair was matted to her pale face. Dark circles were cratered under her eyes, and her hands were shaking at her sides. A cold rag was sitting inside of a stone bowl beside her, and Kagome kept trying to destroy the fever that was in her head.

It was the strangest thing to see. Kagome had purified Naraku. That evil monster that he was before, was gone now. Naraku's long black hair was straighter, and longer, his face had grown more color, his eyes glowing a lot brighter brown. His voice was stronger, and softer when he spoke. His eyes never turned red, and his fangs, and his claws were gone. Kagome had no idea what had happened, or how long it would last.

Kagome saw how excited he was when he'd come to visit her the next day, after he'd finished with her. He lifted her and carried her to the bath, and bathed her gently. Every inch of her, he rubbed and soothed, and massaged…like he was trying to keep her strong. That's when she felt the sickness coming. Kagome lifted her head and looked over the side of the bed, staring down into the wooden pale that he'd brought to her earlier in the day, and she vomited. Green bile escaped her throat, and she knew that if she didn't eat something, she would destroy her teeth, and her insides.

Kagome lifted her legs off of the bed, trying her hardest to move them, seeing it to be impossible; she lay down on the bed again.

Not too much later, Naraku slipped his head in. "Hello, my dear. How are you coping?" he asked her, his voice indeed, softer.

Kagome looked up at him. The very sight of him caused her conflicting emotions. When she saw him, her body remembered how good it felt to have him ravage her the way he did, and how good it was to ravage him back. But her head, her brain, remembered that it was all part of the plan to get the group more time to find her. Her heart though…it had no idea what to feel, or think.

"Not so well…"she murmured toward the human Naraku.

He smiled at her sweetly, literally, and then moved to clean up the pale. He left the room to do so, and Kagome was left again with her own thoughts.

_He wasn't human before, at least not completely. Now, he is. It's like you purified the demon right out of him! But how long will it last? How long will he be nice? Why would he say that he wanted this, anyway? Did he want to be human? I don't understand. Also, when you purified him, the whole ground shook. I wonder how far off you could feel that….I wonder if I could do it again… _

Her thoughts were strange, unlike Kagome. She was trying to convince herself that the thought of doing it again was only to go toward her plan of helping the group. She figured that if the ground shook hard enough, or the light could have been seen, then others would see it as well. It would be like a signal flare, if they could all catch it. Kagome knew that she had to do it again, she had to give Naraku whatever he wanted, but she had to get him to sleep with her again. Her body shuddered at the thought of feeling that way again, but she instantly felt better.

Naraku returned quietly, and looked down at her from the doorway.

"Well, you look as if you've found the cure already, Miss Kagome." He said softly, staring at her.

Kagome's fever was now just a dull ache, and her fingers weren't weak. She could feel the strength rising in her stomach again, and she stood up and walked to the mirror, not shy about being nude in front of him. Not anymore, at least. Naraku watched her closely as she did so.

"You're right." She said, confused.

Her face was color-filled again, and she didn't look as if death had just warmed her over.

Naraku gazed at the curve of her back, and then they trailed down her bottom, and he walked up behind her, and slid his hands up her sides, causing Kagome to jump at his touch, but soften when she realized that it was only him.

"I am glad you are better, Miss Kagome." The human Naraku said quietly, into her ear.

Kagome turned and looked up at him. "I am too, Master." She responded, their faces only inches apart.

_**With Sesshoumaru, in the woods near the burnt castle grounds.**_

Sesshoumaru had told a group of his militia men to keep an eye out for more signs of strange activity in the west, and told them to keep in contact with him if it was necessary. Now, Sesshoumaru had traveled for only a little while, and he'd found himself facing a large mountain. Sesshoumaru moved a lot faster than others. He was alone, and therefore he didn't have to have a whole group with him as he traveled. He was able to run for hours, and that would equal to him what walking for a week would do to a human. He was standing behind the mountain where the large castle where Naraku had been was burnt down.

Sesshoumaru went around the mountain, sniffing the area. He caught the scent of Inuyasha and instantly recoiled. He figured his brother was here recently. Not too recently, thought, a few days ago maybe. He wondered why his brother was so far out, because he wasn't alone, either. He was with that group that he was normally traveling with.

Sesshoumaru decided to trail his brother, and try to catch on to what could be going on in his land. Sesshoumaru began heading back, toward the upper west parts, following Inuyasha's scent.

_**With Kouga, Ginta, and Hakkaku**_

Kouga was sitting in a large wooden chair, made of tree limbs and wrapped in ivy leaves. The rest of the den members were standing around him. They waited for Ginta to step forward from beside him, Hakkaku remaining at his leader's left side, watched as his pack mate stepped ahead.

"Kouga has learned word of Mistress Kagome being kidnapped." Ginta revealed the news delicately. The group had learned to look forward to Kagome being their pack leader's wife sooner or later, and losing her would be like losing her as a leader, as well.

They all gasped, and began to whisper among each other.

Kouga finally stood up, and stepped forward, "Shut up." He ordered, silence filled the room. "We are going to find her. We are going to find her before that stupid mutt, Inuyasha, can get his hands on her and take her away from me again. Now, I know that the earthquake was in the west, and for some reason, I feel like that might be where Kagome is." Kouga stated simply.

The den members watched him for a moment and then one spoke out loud, "But we're not allowed in the west unless it is an emergency, or at least very urgent."

Kouga shouted, "Do you not see this as Urgent? This _IS _an emergency! If you do not understand the loss of your future pack-queen as an emergency, then you do not belong here!" he was seething.

This Kouga was not the boyishly charming, excitable Kouga, he was the very serious, and dangerously determined Kouga.

"We leave tomorrow morning, _everyone." _Kouga stated finally, before turning his back and leaving.

_**With Kagura and Inuyasha, sitting beside the river.**_

Inuyasha had found his way down from the path where the river was sitting, and was now resting on the bank of the water with his feet in the cool, clear water. Kagura was the only one with him, seeing as she was here when he got there. He kept quiet, but kept glancing at her.

Kagura's mind was in disarray. She was unsure as to what could have happened, but she _knew _that it was Kagome and Naraku. She knew that he would have probably already hurt her, and that she was trying to defend herself. Kagura had seen Kagome purify something before, and it stung like a bee only when she was _barely _trying. If that was a purification impact, then by the gods, whoever it was targeted at, was probably hurt badly.

"Kagura?" Inuyasha asked, his voice quiet. "Are you alright?"

Kagura didn't look up, but she shook her head to the side.

"What's bothering you…" he started, worried to know the answer to that question.

Kagura shook her head, again, as if she wasn't going to answer.

"Seriously. Tell me, I need to know!" he said, worried.

His mind had been on Kagome for the past month, and he knew that she was in danger, the longer that she stayed there. Kagura had warned him of what Kagome would be going through and he knew that Naraku had to have been causing some serious pain to Kagome if she had to purify him like that. That blast was the strongest that she'd ever done.

Kagura sighed, and looked up at the sky.

"He's got to be dead." She stated quietly, honestly, tears twinkling her eyes.

"Who?"

Kagura turned and looked at Inuyasha, "Naraku is dead, Inuyasha." She decided.

Inuyasha's eyes widened, but the relief nearly broke his heart.

_**With Kagome, in her bedroom, again.**_

Kagome had gotten better in the past day. She'd been left alone, after Naraku came to her when she mysteriously healed, and he had touched her skin for a moment or two. She'd been left alone in her bedroom for the rest of the night.

Kagome's stomach was rumbling, and she knew that she needed to eat, so that night she'd gone out to find some food. That's when she heard the growling coming from the hallway that Naraku had brought her down, probably his bedroom. Kagome settled on a couple pieces of bread and an apple, and she took those things and ran to her room.

Now she was sitting at the small vanity table by the window, and was scribbling on a small piece of linen paper. She was writing down an entry into a journal she was writing. She didn't want to reveal anything serious, just in case that Naraku got a hold of it. She just noted how strange she felt now, not really sure if she was in danger or not. She wrote down how she thought she was growing feelings for the man besides the ones that she wanted to make herself feel, and that scared her. She wrote down how she barely thought of Inuyasha anymore, and she wondered if they would even still be looking for her a month later. Kagome knew that she was stuck in this house, and it was becoming her house, too. She was beginning to like waking up in this bedroom, like it was her home away from home—a home that she would never return to.

Kagome didn't write it down, but she thought about the plan she had. She was going to do her best to convince Naraku that she loved him, no matter the consequences, he would fall for her too, or at least he would want to be close to her again, and if not, she was sure she could tempt him. He seemed unstable, and needy; like he was craving something. She figured that she could get him to get closer to her again, enough to send off another one of those purification signals, a name she sort of decided on, to try and get a hint out to her friends—or _anyone_—who was looking for her.

Her writing was interrupted when she heard another knock on the door. That's when she remembered the growling, and began to wonder what had happened over-night, and she instantly grew fearful. Not wanting to keep him waiting, just in case, she ran to the door and opened it.

Staring up at Naraku, almost caused her to jump back. This wasn't the human Naraku that she had seen before, it was the same old Naraku. His hair had grown to be wavy, and wild-looking again, and his eyes were darker, they had no more shine to them. His skin was pale, and his fangs and claws were noticeably longer.

"O-Oh, Hello, Master." She spoke, afraid he might have caught her stutter.

Naraku watched her for a second, watching it as she took in his image. He watched as her body language instantly changed, as if she was fearful, and then as if she was excited, and then she grew calm. It was strange how humans were, they showed their emotions even when they didn't know that they were doing it. Naraku loved that about them. It made it so much easier for him to control.

He stepped forward, and Kagome stepped back, mimicking his steps only backwards as he led her to the bed, where he sat her down. Kagome shivered noticeably. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.

"Do you see anything new about me, Kagome?" Naraku asked, his voice flowing out in a quiet, but dangerous tone.

Kagome was unsure of how to answer this question, but she gulped and nodded. "Yes, Master.."

Naraku bit his tongue inside, and ran his hands down his thighs anxiously. He noticed how she heaved quietly when she breathed, taking quick breaths nervously. He knew that he scared her, and he knew that he also excited her. This, excited him.

"What do you see?" he asked her again.

Kagome didn't hesitate this time. "The old you, is back. The one I knew…four days ago." She said, defiantly, and then she looked away.

"Don't look away from me!" he demanded, his eyes taking a turn for the more serious.

Kagome snapped her eyes back to him, staring him right in the eye.

"Is that a bad thing, Kagome?" he asked her.

Kagome tilted her head, curiously. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Is it bad, that…The old me, is back?" he asked her quietly.

Kagome watched him, unsure of the emotions that were playing across her own face much less Naraku's. "No." she answered honestly, she knew how to start controlling this one, not the other one.

Naraku looked up at her, his eyes widening. "You sure?" he said, his confusion turning into a wicked grin.

Kagome blushed, his teeth causing her to remember the bite marks on her shoulder where he'd bitten her four days ago. Kagome shivered and looked down.

"I am sure, Master." She answered timidly.

Naraku got down on his knees and slid closer to her, sliding his hands up her thighs slowly, letting her feel how heavy his long fingered hands were on her legs. Kagome tensed beneath him and looked up to meet his eyes. Kagome knew that she would have to play it off, play it off as best she could—and she figured that wouldn't be that hard.

That was, until she heard his next question.

"Kagome," he started, "Do you have feelings for me?" he asked.

* * *

Authors Note: I am very sorry about the late post, everyone! My reviews on these two chapters were wonderful, and I apologize for how late I am posting these chapters. I live in Oklahoma, and we just went through and ice storm. I couldn't post this chapter up yesterday, which sucked. Unfortunately a few weeks ago my computer crashed and I lost my passwords to everything so it took me a bit to get it back. But, here I am! AND- I'll be posting THREE CHAPTERS today, counting this one, to make up for the loss. 3 Thank you for reading!


	4. Four

**Chapter Four: **_**A shard for you, A human for me. **_

_**With Kagome and Naraku, in his room.**_

Kagome had no idea, at first that is, how to answer that question that Naraku had asked her. It was one that she knew would come to her the longer she was trapped here. Kagome's plan from the beginning of the last two weeks was to make Naraku think that she'd fallen for him, to woo him, and to get him to let her go. However, that planned twisted and turned as she realized that making love to the demon, if making love is what you wanted to call it, caused a seriously large earthquake. This earthquake was actually the impact of a very large purification.

Usually when Kagome purified someone, it hurt them. But, this reaction was due to an orgasm, and she wasn't sure but she think that that had something to do with the outcome. Every time that they had sex, and Kagome purified him, he would turn into a human—completely human. He would still be very strong, of course, but he would be mortal for a matter of days.

Kagome's plan was to continue to do this, in order to get that reaction—the purification impact—again. She wanted to see if she could signal—so to say—her friends, or any others who might notice the light and the shaking and come looking for her. It was a well thought out plan, she figured.

That was, until he actually posed her with that question.

"Do you have feelings for me?"

He had repeated the question again, because Kagome had gone blank, deep into thought—or shock—one of those.

Kagome snapped her attention back to the demon in front of her, whose eyes had taken on an darker shade than they had two days ago, and whose hands were squeezing tightly onto her thighs.

She knew what she had to say, and she knew how to say it.

Kagome smiled timidly, like it was hard for her to say what she was about to say. Her hands went to her cheeks. "I…I…I don't know exactly, um.." she began.

"Kagome.." Naraku's voice threatened, he hated her stuttering.

Kagome's eyes locked on to his, and it surprised him, "I do." She answered decidedly.

Naraku took a moment, making no reaction really—at least none that she could understand—before he stood up from where he was sitting, and looked down at Kagome, who instinctively looked up at him. He grinned wickedly, and then laid her down on her back, and crawled slowly above her.

Kagome's skin instantly began to crawl, and she had absolutely no idea what it was that she was going to do, she didn't know if she really understood the hell she'd just signed up for. Her body _still _ached from the last time they were physically together.

Naraku's hands trailed up her spine, and Naraku lifted her up to his chest, arching her back high so that her face was close to his. Kagome grunted against him, but accepted his touch, because after all—she was supposed to have feelings for him.

"So, if you love me…" Naraku murmured as he lined his nose next to her earlobe as he sniffed the scent of her body. "you will understand." He cooed, before he pulled from a pouch hidden inside of his houri, a sliver of the Sacred Jewel.

Kagome's eyes widened as he twinkled it in front of her face, her eyes catching the light, and she looked away. Pain shooting over her eyes.

"What are you going to do, Naraku?" she demanded to know, anger beginning to fill her despite her plan.

Naraku chuckled wildly above her, gripping her chin with his large hands, pressing his fingers into the sides of her cheeks as he pulled her face to his and kissed her roughly, pulling on her lips. He pulled back again, for air, and looked her in the eye. "I am going to put this inside of you, and then you will do what I say."

Kagome's face lit up with fear, and she jumped a little, but was pulled closer to him as he kissed her again, rougher than normal. Kagome closed her eyes as he did so, feeling that strange warm feeling come up on her again. Naraku slid his hands down her chest, her side, and then came above her right thigh. As he kissed her, he distracted her from what he was doing with her hand.

But nothing could distract her from the pain of him putting that shard in her leg. Kagome arched her back in pain and pushed against him, tears soaking her face as he gouged it into her flesh. Kagome, being human, could feel it all and it actually hurt her, unlike if she were demon—she would heal quickly and would feel little to no pain as the sharp jewel was inserted into her skin.

Naraku watched as it took control over her skin, and began to glow for a moment right before it finally slipped underneath her epidermis. Kagome was crying, but it slowed down and she watched it as well.

Naraku smiled up at her, a sadistic smile that made Kagome tremble beneath him, and he moved her black hair from her face.

"Now, you must do as I say, always, you have no choice." He said defiantly.

Kagome stared at his eyes, seeing exactly how serious he was.

_**With Inuyasha and the others, on a boat in a river.**_

They all sat around the long boat that they had found stranded on the side of the river, and stared at the water in front of them. It would take them closer to the Western Palace, where Inuyasha knew his brother was. He wasn't going there, but he knew for a fact that he was there, menacing over the whole of the western lands.

They were headed in that direction, yes, but once they got out of the boat at the curve of this river, they would be going toward the east. Inuyasha and the others had been traveling for a couple days now, and Inuyasha's scent of Sesshoumaru was stronger than it normally was. Figuring it was because they were so close to his palace, he just blew it off. He had no idea that Sesshoumaru had been trailing him for a while.

Sango sighed outwardly, and Miroku patted her leg comfortingly. "Are you alright, Sango?" he asked her.

Sango kindly pushed his hand away, and nodded. "Yes, just very tired, that is all, Miroku." She answered, not wanting to look at him.

Their moment in the area of the burnt castle had been awkward for both of them and sorrow filled and neither one of the had really spoken to each other sense for they felt the other might be too embarrassed.

Miroku watched her out of the corner of his eye. He was pretty sure that she hated him at that moment, but he pushed it off. He deserved it, he should have gotten to her quickly. No wonder she probably couldn't trust him to be around her anymore. She'd be in danger if he was around.

Inuyasha turned back from gazing at the water, and looked at the two of them. His eyebrow raised in curiosity, he wondered if they were still bothered by what they saw, and then he turned his eyes to Kagura, who was sleeping—oddly—next to Shippo in his fur coat in the other part of the boat.

Inuyasha scanned the area they were in, and was satisfied to see nothing in his eyesight for now.

An hour or two passed of them riding in the river waiting for it to bend so that they could get off and camp. Inuyasha was scanning the river again, and he noticed a glimpse of something white and shiny through the trees. He jumped up, rocking the boat violently as he did so. His nose in the air, he narrowed his eyes.

He knew it was Sesshoumaru almost instantly, and jumped out of the boat as quickly as he could, landing on the bank about ten feet away from the boat. The others on the boat still confused, but they turned and headed toward the bank, where Inuyasha was now standing in the clearing.

_**With Sesshoumaru, in the woods watching Inuyasha**_

"Damn." He murmured when he'd realized that Inuyasha had spotted him. He knew that he'd been caught following him, and now he knew that his brother would want to know why he wasn't at his palace doing Lord-like things. Sesshoumaru hated questions, almost more than he hated his brother.

Sesshoumaru's eyes trailed over to the boat that was now turning into the clearing, and he thought how unfortunate it was for him that the whole group would be there to question him, on top of his brother doing it.

Seeing Inuyasha in the clearing only yards away from him, Sesshoumaru slowly descended from the shadow of the trees. His eyes were blank as he stared ahead at his brother, who instantly looked enraged when opposed by someone following them, or his brother.

"Why do you stare at me like that, little brother?" Sesshoumaru asked, his voice rolling out of him like a tidal wave.

Inuyasha grit his teeth, he hated being talked down to. "Listen, Sesshoumaru—We are on serious business here, and I don't need you following me causing me any trouble right now!" he explained.

Sango, Miroku and the other two got out of the boat and stood in the back. Sesshoumaru's eyes caught Kagura's and she step back, avoiding his gaze. Sesshoumaru turned his gaze back to Inuyasha who was waiting for his response, it seemed.

"Where is your little oddly dressed priestess, Inuyasha?" he asked, just now noticing that the girl was missing.

Inuyasha's face visibly faltered, and he looked off in to the distance, like he might see her out there somewhere. He didn't know why he felt so much for the human girl, Sesshoumaru would never understand it.

"She's missing." Inuyasha finally answered.

Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrows.

"Are you sure she didn't go back to her time?" he asked.

Inuyasha had no idea how his brother knew about the well, or the future, but he didn't care. He shook his head in response.

"I went and looked there already. She's here, though, I can smell her." Inuyasha said honestly.

He had been getting faint scents of the woman for a little while now.

"So let me guess.." Sesshoumaru began, "…you are looking for her out here?" he finished, flicking a bug off of his kimono.

Inuyasha nodded, "Yes, we believe that Naraku had kidnapped her." He explained, unsure why he was giving Sesshoumaru all these answers.

Sesshoumaru began to walk, toward the water where the others were standing. Inuyasha followed him and listened as Sesshoumaru spoke.

"Why do you think that?" he asked Inuyasha.

Inuyasha huffed, "Well, probably because he's kidnapped her before!" he said angrily.

Kagura interrupted, seeing the argument boiling, "Because, Lord Sesshoumaru, Naraku is also missing. We can't find Kohaku, or any of the others either. All of Naraku's followers are now…on their own…for no reason. Just alone." She answered, the last words fading off as she got a little morose.

Sango rested her hand on Kagura's shoulder softly, and Miroku looked at Sesshoumaru seriously. He was not sure if he could trust the demon or not.

Sesshoumaru cared not. His thoughts toward the missing human were that of a dead rat he found lying in the small corners of his bedrooms. Useless, a nuisance, something he had to clean up. However, he wondered if Naraku was the one that was causing that earthquake, he decided to ask.

"Tell me, brother, despite your missing woman…" he said, rolling his eyes slightly, "what caused that earthquake?" he asked finally, gazing down at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha gazed at him strangely. "Brother, you know very well it wasn't an earthquake." He answered finally.

Sesshoumaru got to thinking about it. The bright white light, and the smell of human skin afterwards. It had to have been a priestess. "So, it was the human?" he asked.

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows at his brother, thinking him rather daft at the moment.

However, their thoughts were interrupted by a violent shaking of the earth around them. The boat in the water near them flipped over in the water and began to float away, Shippo yelped and held onto Sango's leg, while she gripped onto Miroku who came to her. Kagura was holding herself up against a tree as the earth continued to be ravaged by the quakes. Inuyasha yelled out, and Sesshoumaru looked upward, keeping himself as stable as he could.

They all looked up just in time to see the bright light above their heads—this time, much brighter, and much stronger than before.

_**With Kouga and The Wolf Clan**_

Kouga had woken up early that day and hunted. The rest of his clan were out hunting for the travel as well. They would need small animals for their dinner, and to feed the children on their way. Kouga was requiring everyone in the gang to follow him to find Kagome.

Kouga was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea bringing them all, because the earthquake, or purification impact, wasn't so strong that whoever did it could actually hurt him. He was fast enough to get away if it was needed. Besides, he would have Hakkaku and Ginta with him at all times. But he decided that it would be good for his group to get up and out, and he realized with that outburst yesterday, that they needed to learn to love Kagome and protect her more, if she was ever going to be part of the Clan.

The members were gathering around as they packed their food to their sides, and their animal skin packs for sleeping and camp.

Ginta watched with curious eyes as his leader gazed upon his clan. "Kouga…are you sure about this?" he asked, honestly.

Kouga turned to face Ginta, no anger in his face, just determination. "Yes…it may not be the safest decision, Ginta…" he paused, looking back at his clan "…and I know that you all see that. But, they have to learn to love her, and to protect their family. Kagome is family, Ginta, and we have to find her."

Ginta watched, and then nodded. "I see."

Kouga smiled softly, a tiny one in the corner of his mouth, "We have to protect our family, no matter how far it takes us into danger, understand?" he asked him.

Ginta nodded affirmatively. "Yes, sir."

Hakkaku ran up from below and said authoritatively, "Everyone is gathered, Kouga, they await your orders, and directions."

Kouga turned and nodded thankfully before he stepped out onto the balcony of the den and looked down at his gathered clan. The children who were playing lightly with each other were told to stop and listen, and they stood up straight, and proud up at their leader. Kouga felt proud of his clan at that moment, and wondered for a second where to take this direction.

"Thank you—I am happy to say that I am very proud of all of you—" he began, but was suddenly stopped when the ground began to rumble.

He looked off to the west, and could see the giant dome of bright white light that shot up into the air. The light had a gentle shade of pink to it, and he knew instantly that it was a purification impact. He smelled Kagome, too. He clutched at the stone on the side of the den, and watched as children clung to their mothers and husbands held their wives tight.

Once the rumbling stopped, Hakkaku and Ginta gasped and asked, "What was that?" in almost exact unison.

Kouga turned to them and murmured quietly, and fearfully. "Kagome." He whispered.

* * *

**Authors Note:** Hello! As I promised, chapter 2/3 that I will be uploading today! I am working on Chapter Five right now, and I am making it a pretty long one, compared to the ones I've recently posted. I just want to leave a small warning...this fanfiction is a serious one, and it's rated the way that it is for a reason. I just hope that you all understand that it is MY story and that I can write whatever I want to. I don't really care about your 'feelings' about what I've written. I just want you to enjoy the fact that the imagination just came to me, and that I loved Inuyasha's story so well that I wanted to add some of my own twists to it. It's obvious that I do not own anything about Inuyasha however, so, I this is my disclaimer I suppose.

I strongly dislike hate reviews and will not tolerate them. I only like constructive criticism, and if you see a typo-that's fine, tell me about it, i'll go back and fix it. I'm not a baby and therefore, I can take some advice. But, do not be an asshole about it, because I am a female, I am an adult-and I don't think that it's fair to me for you to get on here and call me names and trash talk my writing skills. Just be 's all.

:)


	5. Five

**Chapter Five: **_**Caught in the darkness**_

_**With Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha**_

Sesshoumaru regained himself, as well as the others who were adjusting clothing, hair, and trying to look around hysterically, knowing for a fact what that was, but unsure as to why it was stronger this time than it was the last time. Sesshoumaru finally looked at his brother, and they silently shared one feeling.

Worry.

Maybe not for the same thing, no, but it was shared, and it was enough to know that it had to stop, whatever it was—and they had to work together.

Inuyasha turned to face his group, and he walked toward them all for a moment, including Kagura in the mix as he began to speak in hushed tones.

"Listen everyone," he began, cautiously, "I know that we've already had one person come into our group that we were wary about but…" he started, but Miroku raised his hand to stop him.

The monk whispered harshly, "Sesshoumaru? Really, Inuyasha?"

Sango touched Miroku's shoulder gently, "Listen…he's got a point, Miroku…"  
she said, knowing that she didn't care who joined the group, she just wanted her best friend back.

Shippo trotted over to where Miroku was and stood behind his leg, listening to what Inuyasha had to say.

Inuyasha took that moment to speak again. "Sesshoumaru is Lord of this Western Land, and no one knows it better than him, Miroku. Kagura has been every place that Naraku has been for the past six years, and she can help us out with places he might be. Sesshoumaru can help us with other places she might not know about. It's a _good _idea."

Miroku rolled his eyes, "But why would he even _want _to help us?" he asked crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Inuyasha shook his head, "He doesn't want to help us. He just knows that whatever is happening, is going to destroy this land if it continues, so he wants to get to it, and stop it. He knows that if he tries to do it on his own, with _his disability,_ he'd die, or be seriously injured. He has the ability to bring men, soldiers, and other demons to help us—demons that are loyal to Sesshoumaru—and we need all the help we can get to fight Naraku. You know that, Miroku. You know he could kill us easily if it was just our group. We have to go about this wisely." Inuyasha said, his brains finally showing themselves.

Miroku took it into consideration, but seemed to have another question.

Inuyasha nodded, allowing him to speak again.

"You said that Kagura knew where Naraku has been, that's fine; and Sesshoumaru over there knows the Western Lands very well to fill in the other spaces. But, what if he goes East? What if he is in the East, Inuyasha, what will we do then?" he said, honestly thinking that they were at a loss.

Unfortunately, Inuyasha knew who he'd have to go to then.

Sesshoumaru strolled over to them, and in a stoic—unresponsive—tone he said, "Honestly, I don't care about the human, I want to destroy whatever is doing this to my land, so I will accompany you. If you trust I will help with the Western Lands, there is someone who can help you with the Eastern Lands." Sesshoumaru mentioned the last part regretfully. He hated the Wolf demon just as much as Inuyasha did.

"Who is the leader of the Eastern Lands, Sesshoumaru?" Sango asked quietly.

Sesshoumaru turned and looked the beautiful human girl in the eye, and then turned to look at Inuyasha; this caused Sango to look back at Inuyasha as well.

"Kouga."

The group turned to look at each other, save Kagura and Sesshoumaru—who cared not about what was going on, but that they began their travels that moment—and raised their eyebrows in distress.

_**With Kouga and his clan, on an eastern Road**_

There were nearly two hundred of them. All of the Wolf clan together on a long stretch of road caused a large massive body of demons to stroll through the lands. To anyone, it would look like a battle stance, which I suppose, in a way, it was. Kouga , Ginta, and Hakkaku walked as three strong in front of the entire clan. It was massive.

Kouga kept quiet as he walked. It was hard for him to convince some of his followers to go with him after the most recent earthquake. No one had been hurt of course, but they were sure by the look on their leaders face that it was going to be more dangerous than anything they'd done together as a clan before. Not to mention they were treading onto Sesshoumaru's land and he didn't take to kindly to that most of the time. Kouga had kept quiet as to what else he had smelled, but he knew his scent wasn't the best of his clan, and he knew that someone would catch on to it and start asking questions eventually.

Kouga smelled blood, from an injury. He smelled sweat, from action. But, most of all, Kouga smelled heat, from someone being sexually romantic—not assuming automatically that it was Kagome—but he smelled those things combined with Kagome's scent once the earthquake came off.

He wondered where she could be and who would have her. He knew very well that he had to try and get to her first, however, before Inuyasha did.

The signal came from a small area right smack dab in the middle of the eastern lands and the western lands. He knew that if he had to tread over into the western lands, he would doom his clan even more. He wondered if he could do that to them, just to risk having Kagome back.

He had told his clan that he wouldn't allow them to be put into definite danger, but he was unsure if he could keep that promise as they continued to walk.

The anger he was feeling toward Inuyasha was more real than it had ever been before, and he was sure that if he ever laid eyes upon the man again, he would kill him.

_You deserve to die, Inuyasha, how dare you—foul, dirty, ugly halfbreed. _

_**With Kagome and Naraku, in her bed.**_

Kagome felt her whole body quake. She even felt herself lift off of the bed an inch or two before she was slammed right back into the cushion. The man on top of her clung to her naked body like a life raft and she couldn't even writhe beneath him because of what her body had just gone through. This time, it was different, he was needy, more desperate than the first time when it seemed like she'd innocently got him aroused—and it was like he planned the whole thing — like he was trying to experiment with something.

Kagome knew from meeting Naraku multiple times that all of his 'followers' had been trapped here before, and that they'd somehow been convinced that having a shard of the Shikon No Tama inside of their body would be a good idea. Kagome wondered if he trapped them, convinced them he had feelings for them, raped them, and then put a shard inside of them to control them.

Kagome also knew that no matter what it was that she was going to do, she would have to follow his orders—because that's what you did when there was a shard inside of your body—you listened to Naraku, or he would kill you with the very shard you held. Kagome thought it was pretty sick on his part, to trick them and make them feel loved, and then hurt them like that. Kagura, Kohaku…and all the others, they had felt those things and it made Kagome's blood boil.

The only soothing thought was that she was planning on doing the same thing to him. It did nothing but strengthen her drive and determination in her plans success. As she thought about this plan, laying underneath the heaving demon; she realized something strange.

Her body was reacting strangely to the jewel. She wasn't sick like she had been last time. Love with a demon could do that to a human, if you weren't careful. Due to how instinctive they get in a moment of pure arousal—they cannot be stopped—a human could be completely destroyed. Kagome's only reaction to the first time they were together like that was an illness for three days, and that is what she feared whenever she knew he'd come back.

But it wasn't so. Kagome was not sick, no, instead, she felt powerful. Her hair had visibly grown longer in the thirty minutes that she lay there, and if she were to look at her eyes, she'd see that they'd grown larger, and the brown that they were was shifting to a much brighter brown, like a golden shade. She was shifting in appearance, things about her were more defined, and she was healthy-looking. Naraku would notice these things as well if he were awake, but he was not.

He was undergoing his expected transformation.

Kagome pulled away as she let him do what he was doing. The demon leaned up from where he was, his arms planted firmly on the bed, palms straight out, fingers splayed around them. His hair was hanging down over the bed, sweaty and matted from the sexual activity before, and his naked body began to shiver. It looked as if it caused him a little pain to go through with it, but other than that, her initial purification didn't damage him. As his body quaked, it shrunk. Not drastically, of course, Naraku—as a human—was still a very massive man. His shoulders were broad, but not demon broad, as well as every other feature of his body. He looked up at Kagome after he stopped moving, and gazed at her face.

"Tell me, Miss Kagome…" he paused, his voice definitely human, and soft. "…are you satisfied?" he asked her curiously.

Naraku crawled up to where she was laying and pulled her to his chest. Kagome closed her eyes. The feeling she got when he touched her was strange, and she remembered having this feeling with someone else before. But who was it? She couldn't remember for a moment. It only took her a few seconds, but then she remembered the white haired demon she used to travel with. Inuyasha. _Inuyasha, I barely think of you now. I haven't been gone that long, have I? Just a month…that's all. _

Kagome looked up and smiled at Naraku, pressing a soft kiss on his neckline, and then nodding her head. "I am very satisfied, Naraku." She promised.

Her eyes were now glazed over with false happiness. Her mind was clouded with feelings she did not understand, and a desire to destroy something was growing. This Kagome was not the same, and she was feeling it run through her body as whatever this feeling was, changed her.

Human Naraku stroked her hair gently. He felt strong, and wonderful. The feeling of being human was something that he wanted. No one would ever understand it if he ever said those words out loud; such a terrible, powerful, blood seeking demon—desires to be human? Yes, it was true, Naraku had everything he wanted before, because he could take it. But he had been alive for a very long time before he took his first prisoner. He was in search of a companion to make him feel more human.

His desire to actually be a human came off of those nights that he became a human for a night, and he loved the feelings that he got throughout it. Compassion. Lust. Love. Fear. Anxiety. Stress. Satisfaction. They were much more real than that of a demon, and he wanted to have them all of the time. Thus became his quest, to find a woman, or creature that could give him that feeling.

Naraku thought the feeling came from love. That humans were humans because they could love. He wanted love, ultimately. He searched for it, but ultimately ended up putting a shard into his victims after raping them and trapping them for months. The shards had an effect on them that they couldn't control what he did to them. He had convinced them that they loved him, and that he loved them in return before he could put the shards inside of their body—and then afterwards, they were forced to follow his instructions, because if they disobeyed him, he would of course remove the shard, and it would kill them.

But that wasn't enough for Naraku. It wasn't enough for him, and so he searched for the one kind of creature he had never tasted. A human. He had killed many a humans on the search for his next, and hopefully last, victim. But when he first came upon the human that could see his shards, he knew that she was the one that he wanted. So for years, as the strangely dressed human came into the life of a particularly annoying pest of a white haired yukai—Naraku stalked Kagome—he planned to take her.

He waited for such a long time, planning it out, and waiting for the perfect time to take her, and he did. He took her when she least expected it, when her heart finally hated Inuyasha for a moment, and so far, it worked better than he had ever expected it to.

Kagome was laying on top of him, her body shaping itself into something that could carry the shard, as it had years before when Kikyou had been alive, and becoming strong. Kagome was in love with him, and now had a shard inside of her thigh, and she would now do as he pleased, always. He knew that she loved him, because she'd said it before. Strangely, as he lay there in human form, the emotions cascading through him like a volcano of lust, he was glad to know she loved him.

Her soft kisses caused his body to tremble beneath her.

It was addicting, those feelings. So, he knew he would be here, with her, like this more often. The power of the shard, however, didn't just affect her appearance—it affected the purification impact, it was stronger and warmer when it actually hit his skin.

Naraku was fearful that he would die the first time he did it, but he was surprised to get the result he'd strived for, for such a long time. He wondered if it would last longer, now.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the only one who noticed how addicted he was to that feeling, and he wasn't the only thing who noticed how powerful the shards made her. Kagome's plan was going to happen a lot faster than he'd ever imagined.

_After a nap between the two of them_

Kagome rustled beside him, and Naraku opened his eyes to see her face staring at him. He raised his eyebrows at her, as he stared at her expecting smile.

Kagome had been leaning up on her elbow for about thirty minutes now, gazing at the face of her captor. Before Naraku had opened his eyes and was still resting, Kagome's expression was that of a confused, lost, but determined-still, girl. However, she had decided in that time, which no matter what happened to her, she had to get away from this man, and she knew that the ultimate way to get away from him—now that he put that shard inside of her, she couldn't get away willingly—was to kill him.

Kagome knew that they'd always planned on killing Naraku, but she never knew that it was going to have to be up to her. She never knew the weight that Inuyasha carried on his shoulders until now.

Kagome knew how to get her plan to work with the signals, because she noticed that the power of the shard made the purification stronger. Which mean two things; One, more people were bound to notice it and come looking to see what it was, and Two, Naraku would be human much longer, if it worked the way she hoped it did.

When Kagome saw him rustling, she'd convinced herself that she needed to love him. She began to gaze at his features intensely. She noticed how attractive he was, honestly, and smiled at the sight of him. He was still naked, so she could see every curve of his muscles, and every part of his skin. His complexion was perfect, his hair's luster was perfect, and the shape of his face was gorgeous. He would steal any heart he put his mind too if he were in her time.

Kagome, as usual, didn't have a clue how she got here, but had to pretend.

He opened his beautiful brown eyes, and stared up at her-looking very surprised to see her watching him. Kagome smiled gently when he gazed at her and placed one of her hands on his chest softly.

Naraku noticeably jumped at her touch, and she couldn't help but smile at that. He was such a powerful demon inside, and she wondered how in the world he ever planned that kidnapping her would be a good idea for him.

"What are you staring at, Kagome?" he asked her sweetly, enclosing his large human hand over hers.

Kagome broke out of her thoughts and scooted closer to him.

"Just you." She said quietly, leaning in to place a kiss on his mouth.

Human Naraku was completely different than normal, he accepted movements that she initiated much easier than he would before. He welcomed the kisses, though, and slid his hands gently into her hair as she kissed him.

Her kisses seemed loving, and she deepened them as she pressed her equally naked chest against his. Naraku's stray hand slid up her back, and pushed her closer to him. Their kissing became passionate, and strong. Kagome recognized that familiar rising of heat in the pit of her stomach and she pushed it away, trying to get to where she could see Naraku affected by it.

It was very easy to get him into the moment, when he was human. Actually, it was pretty easy when he was a demon, too, it was just more frightening and Kagome didn't feel like she was in control most of the time. But, this moment was different. Kagome _was the only one _that was in control, and both she and Naraku knew it.

Her hands slid down his chest, feeling the bare skin beneath her fingers and lightly brushing them against his thighs and she reached lower. Naraku's breath hitched as he pulled from her and brushed some hair behind her ear. Kagome's fingers made a circle and trailed back upward, reaching his hip bone, and lining all the way across his hips until she met the other hip bone, opposite his side.

Naraku lifted his hips lightly, and Kagome noticed it, and she smiled softly. Kagome herself, was still very new to sexual stuff, seeing as she was a virgin when Naraku took her, and seeing as she'd never done any of this before. But she had a secret feeling that everybody was born with an inherited ability to understand this kind of thing.

Why did she think that? Because every single time she tried to take control like this, she was successful, and she couldn't remember when she made the decision to do any of it. There's always a little part in the back of her head telling her conscience to back off and let it take control, and Kagome loved that feeling.

Kagome pressed her swollen lips hard against Naraku's and he grunted beneath her as she took a hold of him in her hand. He moved upward, causing her to tighten her grip on him. Kagome's complete outcome was to tease him, but she knew what would happen. She massaged him for a few moments before he pulled away and pulled her on top of him. Naraku's sweet face looked up at her, and for the first time, Kagome saw something in him that she'd never seen before, and it infuriated her, and shocked her at the same time.

Innocence.

He looked innocently up at her, having nothing behind his eyes that looked like that demon she met before. That's when she realized he was a completely different person. Only one thing could erase the horrible things that he'd done, and erase the darkness from your behind your eyes.

Memory Loss.

There was no way he'd forgotten his memory though, or he wouldn't remember her, right? Kagome didn't know, but she was overcome by a strange feeling in her chest, and kissed him again, trailing kisses down his neck, and to his ear lobe. Naraku had positioned himself beneath her perfectly, and like a gentlemen, waited for Kagome to make the move.

Kagome grinned as she touched his face softly before she pushed herself down on top of him. Kagome gasped as she noticed that as a human, he was much warmer, and wanted to be gentle. He grit his teeth, and allowed his hands to pushed her closer to his chest as he moved slowly.

Kagome was surprised at how strained he was, because he wanted to move faster, she knew, and she wasn't used to this slower, human version of this moment. Kagome closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling. She knew it was wrong, knew that her insides were burning because of him, and that her whole life had been taken from her because of it, too, but she figured if she was going to be stuck here forever—she might as well enjoy something. The man beneath her pushed her to him and kissed her softly, sliding his tongue around her mouth sweetly, letting her be as slow as she liked, and being as patient as he needed to be.

His goal now wasn't to reach this reaction from before, it was to satisfy the woman above him, and Kagome could feel that. Literally _feel _it as he pushed deeply inside of her heat. Kagome was surprised to hear gentle moans coming from herself as he did so, and eventually followed by her own noises, strained grunts escaped Naraku's lips as they kissed.

Kagome's mind blurred, and she ignored everything but what she was feeling. The heat in her stomach was rising, a blazing fire that she couldn't control, and she knew that he was feeling it too. Kagome pushed her eyes closed tighter, and placed her hands on his chest to push herself higher and straighter up above him. That's when Kagome began to move faster on top of him. Naraku held onto her hips tightly, not wanting to push too hard because he thought he'd hurt her.

It was strange, how he actually _felt _things now and definitely _cared _about the consequences of the things that he did. One thing he did care about was the woman he was with at that moment. Honestly, he had no idea why he cared about her, the only thing he knew was that she had made him feel warm, and made him able to feel again—and now she was making him feel like this—he owed her everything.

Naraku held himself as she did her own thing, and even though that fire inside of his chest was threatening to break through his rib cage, he knew that he had to stay that way until she made it known otherwise.

Kagome was losing it now, and she knew that if she wasn't careful, she'd purify him again—and she was sure that if she purified him as a human, she'd kill him. Kagome slid off of him, and then pulled him over her, pulling his chest down on her as she kissed him viciously.

Naraku looked at her pleadingly as he positioned himself again, she nodded softly, and he pushed inside of her. Feeling the rush of what felt like hot water cover his body as he did so, it caused him to collapse on top of her, moving slowly. He was becoming twitchy, and Kagome knew that he couldn't continue to go slow like this, and her body was telling her she didn't want him to.

"You won't hurt me…" she promised, whispering into his ear, the last part of that sentence turning into a small moan and leaving the only drop of assurance that Naraku needed to do what he wanted.

Naraku took her hands and pinned them above her head, and kissed her between the breasts, the throat, the ear lobe (he liked kissing there for some reason), and then her mouth softly as he started to thrust into her a little harder. He didn't speed up, but he was sure that he was as far inside of Kagome as he could be. Every time.

His breath became ragged, and Kagome had been gasping for a while now, her legs wrapped around his waist as he let go of her arms and scooped her up against the wall on the bed, using his knees to push upward. Kagome clung to him, burying her face into his neck as she started to scream.

Naraku grunted loudly now, and he sped up then, feeling every inch of Kagome around him, and feeling her body heat up beneath him and mesh with his already scorched body.

Kagome started to yell, "Naraku!" she gasped as she pushed back off of the wall, and he laid her down and continued his pace.

He whispered in her ear as his body became sporadic above her, "Kagome…Oh, god…" he whispered, his voice sounding desperate and a little worried.

Kagome pushed her hips up against him, which brought him even closer, and Kagome couldn't control herself for much longer. That's when she was worried she was going to hurt him.

However, they continued, beautifully clinging to each other like it was the end of the whole damn world around them and it was the last time they'd ever see each other. Once they both hit their mark, it was almost simultaneous. Kagome's body reacted the way any human body would with another human, she heated up, and clung desperately to the other body that was for a while, connected to hers.

Naraku slowed down to a stop and buried his face into the nape of her neck, and she clutched at his hair, pushing him closer to her, as she breathed in his scent. Kagome's eyes were closed for a while, as was Naraku's.

That's when Kagome's mind came back, and she was rushed with even more confusion than before. Her head instantly began to hurt, and she began to hate herself. She hated herself because she didn't know what was going on in her own head. She didn't know if she wanted to love him, she didn't know if her plan would work, but most of all she feared that if she did fall for him—would she have to kill the man she loved?

Instead of pushing him away, Kagome pulled him into her, and laid there with him until she heard quiet snores from Naraku.

Then, Kagome closed her eyes and went to sleep.

_**With Inuyasha, sitting by himself. **_

He was in a tree a few miles away from where the camp had been sleeping. Sesshoumaru had agreed to walk ahead of them a mile or two, but still in sight, so that the group didn't feel too uncomfortable, not to mention he felt it would be best—considering he hated all of them.

Inuyasha, however, had a lot on his mind. He was thinking about the past month and a half and all that had gone on. How he had sat alone for a week after Kagome had gone missing, and blamed himself. He blamed himself because he thought that she'd gone home and hated him. No one could convince him that it wasn't his fault that she went home and that she would be back as soon as she got over it, which she did most times.

After two weeks though, they began to be worried that she would never come back, and Inuyasha finally worked up the nerve to go look for her in her time. When he met her mother, he asked her if he'd seen her and Kagome's mom told her no, that she hadn't heard a thing. Inuyasha didn't hint that anything was wrong because he knew it would probably be best if her family didn't know that she was gone. When he came back his friends expected answers, or at least a female companion behind him out of the well—but they got neither one.

Until now.

They'd met Kagura, who'd given them a pretty good hint that Naraku had her, and now, Inuyasha knew very well that he'd had her. As the hanyou looked back on their past, he noticed how strangely Naraku watched Kagome, and how many times he'd kidnapped her during a battle and used her as bait, and he also remembered when they would travel, and he'd feel like disgusting eyes were on them at all times. Now he realized those disgusting eyes weren't on them, they were on Kagome.

Inuyasha blamed himself more than anything for what happened to Kagome, how she'd gone missing, and was probably being beaten and…_raped_. Inuyasha didn't like thinking that what Kagura had explained being with Naraku was like, but for some reason he couldn't help but believe it. Inuyasha knew for a fact that she was telling the truth sometimes, because the looks she gave him, and the odd tendency to search for a violent reaction out of him caused him to question his own opinion of just what Naraku was capable of. He'd created some pretty sick people.

Inuyasha sat on top of one of the trees that over-looked both the camp and the roads around it, so that he could keep a look out, but also be far enough away from everyone that he couldn't hear them speaking about what was going on, or theories about the earthquake/purification. He didn't want to hear any more about it, in fact, he wanted to get away. He just wanted something pleasant to happen, and he didn't know what it would be.

Shippo and Sango were discussing the pink bike that Kagome had always brought with her, and how they knew she had to still be here, because she left it by Kaede's hut, and when she'd left, she usually left it by the well. Miroku was nodding softly, like he was really interested, even though his thoughts were plagued with thoughts of Sango.

Sesshoumaru was off wandering in the nearby woods, keeping his ears out and eyes out for anything that may come. He could care less, and was curious as to why the hell he'd decided to stick around anyway.

Kagura was nowhere to be seen.

About thirty minutes or so passed in silence with Inuyasha before his thoughts were intruded upon.

Kagura was sitting calmly on the edge of that giant feather that she rode so well, and she watched Inuyasha carefully. She remembered how the tables were turned before. Inuyasha had come to her while she was thinking deeply and pulled her out of her thoughts.

Kagura, herself, was reassured—because now she knew that if Kagome still had to defend herself—that Naraku was alive. But, somehow, that wasn't the best thing for her, and she knew it.

Kagura had no inkling of why she was always finding herself drawn to the half breed, because before she hated his guts—and in a way still did—and never wanted to be around him. Now, she always found herself looking for his scent in the air around them, and wondering where he'd gone off to, looking into nearby trees for a red houri.

"How can I help you, Kagura?" Inuyasha's usually angry voice was gone, now he was just softened.

Kagura blinked, and then she thought it over, "I'm in need of nothing. However, you look like you could use something." She said quietly.

Inuyasha turned his eyes to the wind demon beside him. "And what is it that I look like I need?" he asked her, curiously.

Kagura smiled a tight smile, "Well, I don't know that answer. I don't read minds." She said, but when she got no response, she shrugged, "Maybe you need a hug, Inuyasha?" she asked, jokingly.

Inuyasha normally would have told her to bug off, but he couldn't help but smile at her response. He looked up at her and raised his eyebrow coyly, challenging her.

"I think you're right, Kagura." He said as he stood up and looked at her strongly. "I think I do need a hug."

Kagura was taken aback, but knew very well how to get that smug look off of his face. Kagura jumped from her feather onto the tree. The tree was massive, the limb they were standing on was nearly three foot in diameter, it was well stable enough to hold them, and very easy to walk on. Kagura walked closer to Inuyasha who watched her carefully, his smug look gone, now replaced with one of caution.

Kagura smirked, "I'm not going to hurt you, Inuyasha." She whispered, before she stepped forward swiftly, and slid her arms around Inuyasha's shoulders, pulling him close to her, putting one hand on the back of his head, and one in the middle of his shoulders so he couldn't pull away.

But he didn't pull away. No, Inuyasha was still for a moment, and then she noticed he sighed softly, and then she felt his large hand slide up her waist, and land in the small of her back. Inuyasha gently pulled Kagura closer to him, and hugged her to his body.

She was warm, and she trembled once against him, and he noticed it. Inuyasha needed someone to hold him, because he was hurting, and Kagura noticed this. She wouldn't admit it, but she wouldn't have minded to be held, too. This was their moment to do that for each other, even if no one had to know about it.

They stood there like that for perhaps ten minutes or so, and then they both opened their eyes, and pulled away from each other. Inuyasha stared at her for a second, and then he nodded a quick thank you and jumped from the tree only to disappear into the darkness. Kagura could see in the distance that he appeared a few moments later with the campsite, patting Shippo on the head, causing the kitsune to look at him with mouth agape.

Kagura shook it off and slowly hopped onto her feather, and then onto the ground beneath it, before stuffing the now miniature feather behind her ear, and walking to the campsite. Unsure of everything that had just happened.

* * *

**Authors Note: **Alright! Whew! That wasn't necessarily as long as I would have liked it to be, but it was a pretty lengthy chapter when it came to character building and changing. I warned you all in an earlier post that this fanfiction would include a lot of sexual content. A lot of it will be between Kagome and Naraku, yes, but I will not describe every SINGLE event. Only the ones that show some sort of change in either one. Like for instance, they did it twice in this chapter-however, I only mentioned the one that showed how different it was for Kagome to have sex with Human Naraku-but you didn't get the first description, because it wasn't necessary.

Anyway, before I go ranting again, right? I just thought I'd let you know that YES, there will be more romance between other characters, and hopefully you noticed my little spark of romance between two certain opposites at the end there. Ha ha, like that one wasn't a given from the beginning. (It was also in the original story, if any of you had the UNFORTUNATE ability to read that horrific piece of crap.)

I hope you enjoyed it, be sure to review! I will be posting again tomorrow!


	6. Six

**Chapter Six: **_ There they go_

_**With Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru**_

_Three Weeks Later_

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru was sitting alone in Sesshoumaru's main office, discussing matters of their travels. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had scaled the entire upper half of the Western Lands by now, and they'd come up with nothing. Every castle, palace, or hut that Kagura had marked on the map had ended up being burnt down to a crisp. Inuyasha had no clue as to what was happening but he figured that, since they were hot on Naraku's trail because of the purification impacts that kept going off, that Naraku was burning any proof of their having been there.

Sesshoumaru was quiet; he stared at the paper in front of him with impatience. He was tired of traveling with this gang of his brothers, and he was tired of coming up with nothing in their wake. He'd instructed Inuyasha and his gang to meet him at his palace in the western lands when they were done with that last hiding place. He'd taken the map and left to discuss it with his overseer.

His overseer hadn't seen anything that was worth putting down on paper, or even speaking for that matter. He just pointed out that they were running out of time due to the power that the impacts were gaining.

Sesshoumaru knew that all too well.

He stared at the red X's on the map in front of him and sighed, he wondered what in the hell was doing all of that, and why. He'd heard the rumors from Inuyasha and his friends that the impact was coming from Kagome. It was hard for him to believe that such a tiny, timid human could cause such a powerful earthquake.

Inuyasha watched his brother's brow furrow in concentration, and he wondered what could be so perplexing—even though he knew very well why it was so stressful for Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha had been stressed out for the past three weeks beyond his very own comprehension.

The had traveled to four different hiding places and each one was burnt to a crisp—freshly. Inuyasha knew that Naraku was taking Kagome with him wherever he went, and he knew that Kagome was in danger the longer that she stayed with him. But they just couldn't find her. He was hoping that the impacts that kept going off were Kagome trying to send a signal, but he wasn't very sure of that anymore.

For the past three weeks, the impacts had been growing larger, and way more powerful than the initial impact. The last impact was so very strong that as they were getting closer to where the one before had sounded, it knocked Kagura off of her feather, because it even shook the sound barrier.

Kagura had broken her left arm as she fell to the ground. They had to take her to Sesshoumaru's infirmary to be taken care of when they arrived.

Inuyasha's thoughts were plaguing him about Kagura. He knew that they had had something strange happen to them three weeks before, and that they had had a moment…but he was trying his hardest to forget that it happened. Kagura, however, kept stealing glances his way, and looking sorrowful at times. Inuyasha knew it was because he'd blown her off.

Part of him, though, couldn't forget who Kagura had been to them for the past three years. Vicious, mean, and all but Naraku's puppet, she tried to kill them multiple times. He wasn't ready to forget that part of her yet—and he didn't even know if he could.

Sesshoumaru sat down in his chair, pulling his lone hand up to the side of his face. He stared at the paper for a second, and then perked up. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, then, he watched as his brother pulled out a quill and began to ink over the page in front of him.

_**With Kouga and his clan.**_

They'd walked for days, and only stopped for a short sleep every now and then. Kouga was a strict master as he controlled his followers and made sure that they all knew what they were doing. Kouga had to make sure that everyone was focused on their goal, and that no one was going to back out when he really needed help.

However, Kouga had lost a few people to a few of the demons that the clan had to pick off days ago. Kouga was faced with the loss of a child, and an elderly woman of his clan, who could not defend himself. He had to comfort the mother of the little boy who had died, and the husband to the elderly woman who had passed away.

They'd had their memorial ceremonies and rested for a couple days afterwards, to get the morale up again. When Kouga instructed that they begin walking again, there was silence, but he could feel the tension toward him as they made their way closer to the Western Boarder.

Kouga was walking now, ahead of the clan. He was keeping a look out—putting himself out there for everyone else to be safe—but he didn't feel like it was doing any good. He knew that his people would begin to disband if he didn't prove to them that this was going to be worth it. Strangely enough, though, Kouga didn't feel like it was worth it anymore. He figured it would be best if he just went on his own; told Hakkaku and Ginta to return the clan back to the den, and look after them.

He needed to rest.

Kouga turned to face his clan, all of whom stopped as soon as they saw him turn. They looked up at him with hopeful eyes. Kouga saw a woman, around his age, holding a baby in her arms. He knew that she'd been walking for nearly two days straight without stopping to sleep, and he knew that she had to be in pain. Kouga walked up to the woman and smiled softly. She didn't return the smile, only confusion crawled over her face.

Kouga lifted the child up out of her arms, and he watched as her arms fell delicately down to her side, and she rubbed her shoulders slowly, and then her back. She looked up at him, that same confusion that was on her face, now upon everyone around them.

"We will camp here tonight." He began, before handing the child back to his mother, who took him willingly. "You all have deserved a rest, far more than I. I forget that I can withstand more than you all can at one time. I forget many things…" Kouga said ruefully. "However, I am going to make up for it. I will have Ginta and Hakkaku set up beds and you ladies," he motioned toward the women with children, and mothers, "will be able to rest and feed your children. The men, we will hunt for meat for tonight." He said authoritatively, but still very gentle.

The men around them smiled, they'd been craving a hunt. The women were sighing gently with relief, and they smiled up at Kouga, who had just reminded them how kind their leader really was. They cheered lightly and turned to find a place to rest.

A few hours later, Kouga and his gang were all sitting around a fire, eating their portions of the squirrel, rabbit, and fox that they'd found in the woods. The kids played with each other, and the babies were giggling happily. Kouga watched from a large boulder in the distance, and smiled happily.

He couldn't be too happy, though, his thoughts were on Kagome. The impact's had gotten stronger, he noticed, and he wondered if she was being hurt. Kouga still didn't know what the impact was, but he knew that every time it happened, he smelled her more and more.

He wanted to kill Inuyasha in ways he'd never wanted to before, because it was that hanyou's fault that she was gone. Kouga sighed as she looked off into the distance.

_**With Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha**_

After about two hours of Sesshoumaru coloring on the map, and Inuyasha keeping silent as he watched—he'd finally finished doodling, and motioned for his younger sibling to join him at the table.

Inuyasha followed suit and looked down at the map that Sesshoumaru had been fiddling with for over an hour now. He raised his eyebrows as he saw what his brother had done.

The spots that they had checked, that formerly had giant red X's on them, were now giant circles colored in black. From each circle, Sesshoumaru drew the path that they had taken to get to the next one—being the spot that the next impact had taken place—and Inuyasha saw why Sesshoumaru had wanted to show him the paper after all.

"Do you see it little brother?" Sesshoumaru asked, exhaustion dripping from his lips.

Inuyasha nodded, "He's zig-zagging." He said softly.

Naraku had been going from one side of the Western Lands to the other for about two months now, and he'd been dragging Kagome with him! Inuyasha was enraged! His eyes widened and he began to grip his fists against the table the map was laying on.

"Now, tell me little brother…" Sesshoumaru said softly, no taunting, no caring, just tired—"where are we going next?" he asked.

He wanted to see if his brother could catch on to what he was saying, and waited for Inuyasha to calm down.

Inuyasha thought about it for a few moments, and lifted his finger and placed it gently on the next marked part on the map. Sesshoumaru almost shook his head, but stopped as Inuyasha lifted his finger and planted it down on the one that would follow the next location.

"We go here." He stated defiantly.

Sesshoumaru smiled a little, only a little, and then stood. "Yes. Now," he said yawning, "go tell your friends of the plan, and then get some rest. Dinner will be late tonight." He promised as he left the room.

Inuyasha nodded, a plan formulating in his head as he walked down the hallways looking for Sango, Shippo, and Miroku.

_**With Sango, and Miroku.**_

They were sitting in a courtyard that sat secretly in the middle of Sesshoumaru's palace, and were watching Shippo play with his new friend Hirai, whom he'd met wearing servants clothes when they'd arrived to Sesshoumaru's palace three days before.

Sango kept her eyes on Shippo for a second and couldn't help but smile for him. He'd been so lonely since Kagome had gone, and had missed her dearly. Almost more than anyone else could, Sango thought.

Now he was truly smiling, and she thought that he must really like this girl. Sango kept her eyes locked on him for a moment, to keep her mind off of the beautiful man that was sitting next to her on the stone bench that they'd found.

Miroku, however, had no idea what to say, and had no way to get the female next to him off of his mind. He knew very well that he'd ruined the moment with them at the castle by bringing up the past, and he knew that Sango had to be upset with him, and thus—he kept quiet.

Sango sighed loudly and shook her head, "Do you think that she'll ever be able to use her arm again?" she asked, referring to Kagura, who had been asleep for a full day now after Sesshoumaru's healer treated her.

Miroku shrugged helplessly, a frown on his face, "I am not sure. She had a pretty nasty fall, and it cracked her bone and tore a lot of the muscles inside of her arm. I'd be surprised if they didn't have to amputate it—it was incredibly infected." He explained softly, looking down to the ground.

Sango gasped, "Oh no…that wouldn't be good…" she frowned, "poor Kagura." She whispered seriously.

Miroku looked up at her, surprised. "Poor Kagura?" he queried.

Sango looked at him, confused, "Yes. That's terrible for her." She said, rubbing her arm.

Miroku raised his eyebrows. "Yes, but…don't you think she deserves it? He asked, coolly.

Sango was shocked. "Why would you say that?" she asked him, her voice raising a little.

Miroku leaned back defensively. "I was only curious! I mean,…after all she did to you…" he whispered, looking away, ashamed.

Sango shook her head and placed her hand on his leg. "She did it to you too…" she started, gripping his leg tighter, making him look at her. "But people change, and she's done nothing but try to help us find Naraku since she showed up." She explained, defending her newfound friend, "I am not saying that I forgive her, but I am saying that I understand why it happened to begin with, and that we have to let it go." She said softly.

Miroku stared at her, her large eyes watering as she thought of everything that had happened—and he suddenly felt anger rising up in him—and he pulled from her. "How could you forgive me?" he asked her through hoarse breaths.

Sango looked surprised as he pulled from her and then shook her head in confusion. "For what? What have you done, Miroku?" she asked, honestly.

Miroku chuckled darkly, "I let you get hurt. I nearly let you die because of Naraku and his…follower." He said referring to Kagura.

Sango winced, the memories flowing through again, but she blocked them enough. "I never blamed you." She said, her eyes widening in truth.

Miroku looked back at her, and breathed out heavily.

"I'm serious, Miroku. I never once blamed you for what happened." She said bluntly.

Miroku's face lit up a little, and she smiled.

Her smile made his heart jump, and he scooted closer to her, and he watched her reaction to him caressing her face softly. "I am so glad to hear you say that, for I have spent this last year, blaming myself." He whispered honestly, feeling the tightening in his chest get worse as he explained his feelings to her.

Sango shook her head, and she leaned into his hand, cupping her hand over his hand. "No. Don't do that. Not anymore. You don't deserve that, Miroku." She whispered back.

Miroku and Sango were quiet for a second; they stared at each other curiously. Both of them knew what the other wanted, but neither could speak. Miroku, fought the urge to pull her to him, and Sango, fought the urge to beg him to do it.

Instead, as moments passed, Sango leaned forward and kissed Miroku gently. Miroku's face warmed against her, and she felt him respond almost instantly. The kiss wasn't violent, hungry, or desperate. It was necessary, and it was a calm, beautiful moment between the two of them.

Shippo and his fox friend, Hirai, watched closely as Miroku and Sango kissed. Once they'd kissed, Shippo's face reddened, and he and Hirai burst into a fit of laughter behind the bushes in front of the bench.

Inuyasha came up behind Miroku and Sango and shouted angrily, "Would you two quit sucking face, already!? We have more important things to do!"

Miroku and Sango launched away from each other like it had never happened and looked off into opposite directions. Inuyasha raised his eyebrow at them, looking at them as if they were idiots.

Shippo and Hirai had burst into an even louder fit of laughter, and now Sango, Miroku _and _Inuyasha were glaring at them both.

"SHIPPO! YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND GET OVER HERE! WE HAVE STUFF TO DO!" Inuyasha shouted to the little fox demons.

Both ran up to them in excitement and kept quiet and Inuyasha began to explain everything to the group about Naraku. He explained that Naraku had been zig sagging the whole time, and that they would be going to the hideout that he would be going to after he obliterated the one he'd travel to next.

The one right after the other, they thought.

Shippo jumped in excitement, but knew that he would be leaving Hirai here at Sesshoumaru's palace. He instantly felt sad for that reason. Miroku and Sango nodded, ready to fight for Kagome to come back to them.

Sango murmured quietly to Inuyasha.

"Are you going to tell Kagura?" she asked.

Inuyasha stopped his body tensing. "I…" he started, sighing, "…yes." He promised as he disappeared into the hallway ahead of them.

Miroku looked at Sango knowingly, who shook her head at Inuyasha.

_**In the Infirmary**_

Kagura lay still, her eyes closed; but she was wide awake. So, she knew when Inuyasha came into the room, shutting the door behind him quietly. Trying not to wake her if he hadn't already done it; she knew it was him because of his scent.

Inuyasha came in and sat down right next to her bedding, and gazed at her. Kagura felt odd, having Inuyasha's eyes go over her like that, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to face the look he'd been giving her for the past three weeks. He'd been looking at her strangely, as she had probably been doing to him.

Kagura knew that her feelings had changed toward the hanyou, and she knew that she could never admit that to him—because she still belonged to Naraku—and because she knew that he was in love with the human. Kagura grit her teeth as the thought of Kagome brushed her face, and she knew that Naraku was keeping her still, and she knew that she wasn't going to be what Inuyasha expected.

Inuyasha watched Kagura's body tense with the pain from her arm and the fever she'd gotten from the infection. He knew that they'd have to leave in a couple of days, and he was afraid that Kagura wouldn't be able to make it. Inuyasha, however, didn't understand why he was afraid for her health. He just didn't want her hurt, and that was all that he knew for sure. He watched her petite body lay still beneath the thin sheer-made fabric on the bedding.

Her body was naked beneath it, because the bandages had to be placed on her stomach, arms, and various parts of her legs from her fall. The bandage that held her arm in place was wrapped around her whole upper torso. Her breasts weren't huge, but they were large enough for him to grasp if he needed to.

Inuyasha shook those thoughts from his head and looked away from her. A ragged breath escaped his throat and he cleared it. Kagura opened her eyes in response, and stared at him quietly.

Inuyasha met her eyes, and held the gaze with her.

"Inu…Inuyasha?" Kagura feigned weakness as she watched him struggle to speak to her.

Inuyasha watched her closely, not tearing his eyes away from her. "Kagura. We found Naraku." He said, warning her.

Kagura nodded, "I knew you'd see what he was doing. I noticed it as I was flying, before the impact that knocked me to the ground." She explained, pulling herself up the best way that she could with one arm.

Inuyasha nodded, he knew that Kagura was smart enough to notice it. Kagura winced and whined a little as she felt a tear from the scabbing on her abdomen. Inuyasha ran to her quickly, and pulled her up so that she wouldn't have to do it. He looked down at Kagura's face, her long black hair had been let down from the bun she kept it in, and her pale cheeks were bright red.

Inuyasha wondered why she looked so embarrassed, but then he remembered that, _she was naked_, and he happened to look down at her. His hands were pressed against her left hip, and her right arm as he lifted her. He stepped back, still holding her hand, and looked her over.

Kagura's face warmed, and she looked to the side, shyly.

Inuyasha stepped forward and sat down on the bedding with her. Her head leaned against the wall as she stared away from him. Inuyasha moved her right hand from her breasts as she hid them. He stared at them in awe for a few seconds. Then, being as gentle as he could, he caressed one of them with his right hand. Kagura jumped under his touch. Her skin was warm from the fever, and his hands were cold from the wind outside.

Kagura snapped her head to him, and she blushed as he rubbed her breasts gently. Inuyasha didn't know what he was doing, but he knew he wanted to do it, as he scooted closer to Kagura, on the bed.

He placed his right hand on the left side of her, as she leaned up against the wall, and his left hand on her right side as he leaned closer to her face, staring at her bright red eyes. He found her to be attractive—always had—but had never shown her any kind of affection. Inuyasha knew that he'd hurt her feelings the first time he'd ever seen her naked, and then again when she hugged him.

Inuyasha knew that Kagura had issues, and he knew that he also had issues. He was in love with a dead woman, was falling for his best friend who was now missing—and had strange desires about a demon who had tried to kill him and his friends many times. He knew for a fact that he was screwed up inside.

He slipped his left hand up to her cheek, feeling her smooth skin under his calloused hand.

Kagura whimpered beneath him, feeling his heavy chest loom over her, "Inuyasha?" she started out whispering.

Inuyasha pressed his body down over hers gently, afraid to hurt her. He felt his stomach harden, and felt that heat rush into his stomach as he leaned forward and pulled Kagura to him, pressing his soft lips against hers.

* * *

**Authors Note**: Oh my god! Kagome has been missing for officially two months! How crazy is that? What is going to happen to her? Why is Naraku leaving the castles burnt? Where is Kagome in her emotions toward the demon? Who knows? I DO!

Wait for the next chapter ;)

A big thanks goes to the few that have been reading this rewrite, and have been enjoying it. :) I'd liek to also say thank you to the ones to keep an eye out for my grammatical errors and are NICE when they tell me about them. It gives me a chance to change it and make it an easier read for you all. :)


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